


Other Realms

by Scorpion1313



Category: Marvel, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Fights, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Magic, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-02-13 08:57:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 76,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12980610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scorpion1313/pseuds/Scorpion1313
Summary: Stability has returned to the Nine Realms of Yggdrasil, peace will come in the near future. Two years after the attack on New York, two years since Loki led the ruthless and uncaring chitauri, two years since he fell from the Bifrost, now the trickster god stands trial before the the All-Father of Asgard and awaits the sentence that the ruler of the The Realm Eternal deems appropriate for his crimes against Midgard and its people. The eyes of the god of mischief were different, unnoticed by the king or the other princes of The Golden Realm but not by the queen, not by the woman who raised Loki. No matter what title he is given by other, it doesn't matter if he is the god of evil, lie-smith, son if secrets or god of lies, he is and always will be her baby boy, the smart and curious child that she raised in the halls of this very palace. His eyes were calm, cold, with a calculative gleam in them, that isn't strange, he was like when serious even as a child, no what caught her attention was that his eyes looked tired, broken and... Ancient?





	1. Prologue: Equestria

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in my Fimfiction.net account, but I decided to post here as well. If you want to check, here:  
> https://www.fimfiction.net/story/368007/other-realms
> 
> It follows the characters and events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until the beginning of Thor 2: Dark World. The rest will be a Alternate Universe, but I will be using the cosmic hierarchy and cosmology from the comics, meaning that The Nine Realms are nine different dimensions, eight other dimensions distinct from Earth a.k.a. Midgard. Here is a diagram to help:  
> https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_super/2/27620/3093153-5524754984-marve.png
> 
> Anyway, I am going to use concepts of the Comic Universe , Cinematic Universe and Animated Universe as well as actual mythology. There might be other crossovers much later. On the mlp side of things the story starts in the middle of season 2, so no alicorn Twilight for now.  
> I might follow the episodes, we will see, there might be graphic violence and nudity in the future, but I'll place a warning on the chapter, however there will be few and far between and that is why I didn't use the Archive Warnings.

**In the realm of Statera on the land called Equestria**

We find Princess Celestia, an alicorn mare with a white coat, a mane and tail with hues of blue, green and pink flowing in an unseen wind, the mark of the sun on her flank, wearing a crown, a golden peytral with a lilac gem and decorated horseshoes.

Celestia was having dinner with her sister, Princess Luna, an alicorn mare with a dark blue coat and a mane and tail that bears a resemblance to the night skies with shimmering stars, also wearing her royal regalia.

These two are the diarchies, the royal sisters, the ruling princesses of this magical and magnificent land called Equestria.

They were having a meal together, which was only possible at dinner and breakfast, -at dawn and dusk respectively- because of their opposing schedules with one awake and ruling during the day and the other during the night. Because of their sturdier physiology as alicorns, they could stay awake for more than a week, but that would leave them in a very bad mood. Nopony liked to stay awake for longer than they have to. So they would meet when they were about to trade places, only occasionally staying awake for more than a day.

Celestia was observing Luna, glad that her sister was adapting well to modern times. Just last month she came back from spending Nightmare Night in Ponyville with the Elements of Harmony. Luna was also getting better with modern speech, only slipping to the Old Equestrian when she was too upset, angry or surprised to notice, but she was getting better.

At least Luna had made some friends and she was being accepted by her subjects, but she still had a long way to go to recover from her thousand year banishment to the moon. A banishment that Celestia caused.

Celestia –despite what her little ponies think– had flaws and she always had a bit of arrogance, but she managed to hide it well. It was this attitude that made her ignore the signs of Luna’s emotional distress. She always brushed off her worries by saying something like, “They will come to appreciate you and your night” or “They need to prepare for the next day”, while she basked in the love of their subjects. It was only when Luna’s repressed feelings reached the boiling point that she felt the consequences of her actions -or inaction in this case- not only on herself but on a loved one.

She looked back at her life to re-evaluate herself. Her first humbling experience was when she saw and understood the mortality of those around her as she and Luna watched their mothers and half-siblings age and die, but at least they lived good and long lives and that was the first time she realized that Luna would be at her side for the rest of her life, her long –possibly eternal life. Her second and third humbling experiences were her and Luna’s defeat by King Sombra and Discord, but she rationalized that their powers were unnatural and that's why it took both princesses to stop them, but her most humbling experience was Luna’s banishment. In her hubris she wanted her problems to go away and the elements made it so. Maybe the elements punished both of them with a thousand years of loneliness.

For the first time in life, she felt alone, even around her subjects. Their lives faded and she remained ruling alone. That was the first time she truly felt the weight of her crown. Luna was the only family she had in this world, but when Cadence ascended she felt hope. Maybe she and Luna were not as alone as they thought. She adopted the young alicorn to show Luna that they could have a family again.

While they both loved their father he has duties in a distant realm, only coming to visit once every three or four centuries and couldn't stay for long. The only two times he stayed for an extended period of time were on her foalhood and later during Luna's. Besides, the last time she saw him was before Luna’s banishment.

Celestia tried not to dwell on such thoughts, she remembered that Twilight’s birthday was yesterday and Sun Diarch allowed her and her friends to use the ballroom. They wanted to use the courtyard, but Fancy Pants already had it reserved for one of his high society parties. She was just glad to have her sister back, besides with her pupil’s potential and Cadence’s possible wedding both of them could have a family again. It would certainly help Luna.

Unknown to Celestia and Luna, they were about to meet a very peculiar member of their extended family.

**At Asgard's Dungeon**

Locked in his cell, behind the energy walls that were supposed to nullify his magic sat Loki, he felt that things were about to get interesting. He just smiled as the guards came with chains to escort him to his trial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For this story, the realm/dimension where Equestria exist is called Statera. It’s Latin for “balance”, which is a synonymous for “harmony”, besides on the Marvel Universe –from the comics– Earth in ancient times had a far more powerful connection to other dimensions.  
> That connection became very weak around the Middle Age, but by the end of the Middle Age it was almost non-existent with exception of certain places during certain times.  
> My take on this is that the Greek and/or Roman influence on pony culture, especially the pegasi, comes from Earth as well as the Middle Age-like culture of the unicorns and earth ponies.  
> Also, the origin of many myths of pegasi and unicorns on Earth and that's not even counting mythological monsters that can exist because of that connection like hydras, chimeras and manticores.


	2. Prologue: Asgard

**At the Asgardian Royal Palace's throne room**

“Bring the prisoner,” echoed the powerful and calm voice of the Allfather in the throne room.

The rattling of chains was heard across the halls. At the entrance, walking toward the throne bound by enchanted shackles on his arms and legs, while being escorted by eight einherjar, four of which were holding his chains, was Loki.

The shackles prevented the trickster from using his seidr, his magic, also with the multiples einherjar guarding these halls focusing their attention on him, escaping would be a challenging endeavor but with his adopted parents and brothers here, escape was all but futile.

Speaking of which it was the first time in centuries since the sons of Odin have gathered in a single place for whatever reason, them being Thor, Balder, Hermod, Tyr and Vidar.

Thor was a tall Æsir being 6ft 6in his broad-shouldered body covered in black leather armor with chainmail underneath and his blond hair showing beneath his helmet.

Unknown to almost all but the king and queen themselves Thor wasn't Frigga's birth-son but she loved and raised him all the same as her other children, Thor was actually the son of Odin and the elder goddess Jord, more well known as Gaea or more commonly as Mother Earth. Being the most powerful of the group, naturally, he was the champion of The Realm Eternal.

Balder was not as tall as Thor, being 2 inches shorter but like him, he was a broad-shouldered warrior prince using metal armor with a cape made of fur and with his helmet obscuring his natural ash gray hair.

Being the most level-headed of the group it's no surprise that he was Asgard emissary and representative in other realms on political missions.

Hermod was the shortest of the brothers at 5ft 11in, he was also the youngest, wearing a white leather armor and leaving his arms uncovered and with a horned helmet covering his brown hair.

Being the fastest of the group he was the messenger of the Norse gods.

Tyr was a black-haired warrior with leather armor with metal spaulders and an inch taller than Thor.

But his most distinctive characteristic was his golden and ornamented prosthetic hand.

Being around the same age as Thor and more responsible, he was the previous champion of the Golden Realm while Thor was out venturing across the nine realms in his younger days, drinking and fighting.

Lastly Vidar also around the same age as Thor and Tyr, wearing a simple purple vest and pants, in addition to that he was the tallest of the brothers, at 10ft and with an impressive bronze colored horned helmet covering his blond hair.

With the brothers beside each other standing at the base of their father's throne on his right, at the king's left was his wife, Queen Frigga.

Loki now in front of the throne looked up at the All-Father meeting his one eye gaze.

“Loki Odinso-" "Laufeyson," Loki rudely corrected.

"Loki Odinson, you stand accused of leading an invasion force of Chitauri against Midgard and the death of many innocents either by direct or indirect means, among others lesser charges. What do you plead?" announced the king with his calm and unwavering voice, presenting the charges against his own son.

“Guilty," the Silver-tongue spoke with conviction and amusement.

This trial was going to be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gods and goddesses have their own pantheon and tend to stay out of other pantheons business and territory on Earth unless they are at war. For example: Olympians don't interfere with Asgardians and vice-versa. The same applies to others like Egyptians, Mayans, Shinto, etc.
> 
> Elder gods and elder goddesses are singular entities across multiples mythos. For example: Any mythology that mentions an Earth Mother, they are talking about the same Earth Mother. Mother Earth, Mother Nature, Aditi(Hindi), Armaiti(Persian), Danu(Celtic), Izanami(Japanese), Jord(Norse), etc. Are all names for Gaea / Gaia.
> 
> Also, Odin can see only with his left eye, the right one can be covered with an illusion to look normal, can be covered by an eyepatch or it can be exposed showing that is completely white. Sometimes it's an empty eye socket but with all the advancements in Asgardian technology/magic making a new eye is not a problem, at least that's what I assume. The only reason that his right eye can’t be healed it’s that he sacrificed that eye in an ancient ritual to obtain forbidden knowledge.


	3. Sentence

**At the Royal Palace's throne room**

"How dare you speak like that, filth mons-," Tyr started but was interrupted by the blunt end of Gungnir hitting the floor.

“Enough," Odin turns his eye from his son to the smiling prisoner, "You are not even going to try to defend your actions."

“What's the point of it? You already made up your mind on the verdict,” Loki spoke in a condescending tone.

"Know your place, you speak to the All-Father," said one of the guards behind Loki before hitting the back of the trickster's knees, making him kneel.

The two guards that were in front of him moved to each side to hold him down by his shoulders and keep him on his knees while the four guards that were holding his chains were prepared to subside him if needed.

Thor had to stop himself from trying to help his brother, Balder noticed this and put a reassuring hand on the Thunderer's shoulder, then Thor looked at Balder.

“Now is not the time to help him, if you go there now you will make the situation worse," Balder whispered discreetly to Thor.

“I can't stand at the fact that our brother is being treated as a common criminal, regardless of his action, he is still a prince of Asgard" Thor whispered back to Balder.

“I know, but it's not our decision to make," Balder answer soberly.

Thor frowned, but he recovered his composure. Most of the time he just wanted to hit the problem with Mjolnir, but this wasn't something that can be solved with his hammer.

While the conversation between Thor and Balder was going on Hermod and Vidar observed Loki with indifference, even though he was their brother they never interacted much with him, so they were neither in favor or against this trial. Tyr, on the other hand, glared hatefully at him, he never liked Loki and always thought of him as a waste of time and effort from his parents part. Later when Loki started to learn the art of seidr, a woman's domain, he went from a waste of time to disgrace in Tyr's eyes, how his father could allow such a thing to happen he will never understand.

To make matters worse that monstrous mutt Loki called son was responsible for the loss of Tyr's left hand, ever since the runt was a child, he had been nothing but trouble for the royal family and Asgard itself, Tyr was glad that the All-Father had finally seen reason and was ready to pass judgement on the troublemaker.

On the other side of the throne Frigga looked at her child –adopted but hers– with sorrow, then she saw his eyes. His seemingly tired and broken eyes, but to a Vanir like herself there was something else there, it was only her mastery of seidr and her intuition that allowed her to peer deeper into his soul, she was not sure of what she saw but it felt… Ancient. She let her concerns and worries show as she looked at Loki.

“Do not forget that the kindness of your mother is the only thing that keeps me from putting you in the deepest part of the dungeon,” Odin reminded Loki.

“I know, I spend all my time there hearing the guards say that you were being too soft on me,” Loki remarked back.

Odin cast his gaze on the guards, then return it to his wayward son before saying, "It matters not."

Then a brief pause followed.

“You are an egocentric spoiled child that fails to recognize the value of loyalty, mercy and the lives of your fellow man," said the Ruler of Asgard before getting up.

“By my authority as All-Father and protector of the Nine Realms, I banish you from Asgard until such a time that you learn these lessons!" to emphasize the sentence passed by Odin the sound of Gungnir blunt end hitting the floor once again echoed through the halls.

“This trial is over, you're allowed to have one final conversation with your brothers and mother," said Odin with finality in his judgment after the echo of Gungnir disappeared.

Tyr turned to the entrance and started to walk out of the throne room, but before leaving he said, "I have nothing to talk to him and nothing hear from him."

“So typical of both of you and Tyr to just avoid and ignore me, it feels like my childhood all over again," Loki remarked condescendingly in a sarcastic tone.

Balder being the smart one of the group just inquired about his brother sentence, "Father, I couldn't help but notice that you didn't announce to where he will be banished. Could you perhaps, enlighten us on that matter?"

"Verily, I would like to know as well?" asked Thor, being troubled and relieved at the same time, remembering his own banishment, remembering its rewards and hardships, thinking that maybe this was what Loki needed.

Thor was brought out of his thoughts by the answer of his father, "He will be banished to the realm of his granddaughters to learn his lesson."

Thor and Balder were the only ones that remained, with Hermod and Vidar leaving soon after Tyr, their eyes widen in surprise as did Loki's eyes but for a different reason.

Odin let his amusement show at the surprised looks on their faces, turning to Loki he asked, "Have you forgotten your own son, Sleipnir?"

Loki was surprised by the sentence more than anything else, he expected imprisonment at best and execution at worst, banishment he can work with, but banishment to the realm of his granddaughters, that he didn't expect.

Loki let the feeling of surprise pass, with a face of indifference just raised an eyebrow and added, "So you are sending me to Celly and Lulu's realm. You dumping me so you don't have to deal with me, really mature on your part."

Now it was Odin's turn to be surprised, but with thousands of year of politics under his belt he didn't let it show as he looked at Loki as he said, "So, you know."

“Of course I know, I do keep track of all my children and their families," said Loki to Odin.

All the while Balder and Thor, still in a state of shock, looked back and forth at their father and brother not knowing how to react.

“Whaaa-” said Bader and Thor at the same time.

Odin sighed and asked, "Do you want to say anything, Frigga?"

“May I speak to him in private?" asked Frigga.

“Of course, but be brief,” recommended Odin as Frigga used her seidr to create a bubble around just herself and Loki to keep the conversation from being heard by the others in the room.

**A few hours earlier in the Realm of Statera, Land of Equestria, City of Canterlot**

Princess Celestia was enjoying her break from day court in her chambers, reading her faithful student's most recent friendship report.

“I wonder if anything interesting will happen today?" the sun princess asked herself aloud.

“PRINCESS!!" the day guard screamed in urgency as he practically threw himself into the room in a hurry to get to her.

“I shouldn't have said that I tempted fate just now," she muttered to herself as resisted the urge to facehoof.

“What seems to be the problem, my little pony?” she asked in the familiar motherly tone that she was known for.

“There is something going on the sky, strange clouds started forming out of nowhere and then they started to swirl around into some kind of vortex, so I came to you as soon as I could,” reported the panting guard.

Looking at her window Celestia saw a strangely familiar cloud formation on the sky, clouds that weren't under the influence of pegasi or unicorns.

“You did well my little pony, wake up and inform my sister of this development immediately,” ordered Celestia as she opened the door of the balcony. Immediately after her order was given, he turned around and ran to the night princess' chambers.

Flying up and out of the castle grounds onto the city square right beneath the center of the vortex Celestia landed and waited.

Ponies were hiding inside their houses and looking through their windows with hopes that their princesses would deal with the potential threat. Celestia heard the beats of multiple wings and the steps of many hooves, so she looked behind her only to see her sister and a contingent of guards of both day and night divisions armed with spears.

Not far behind them was the group of six mares known as the elements of harmony, a group that consisted of two members of each one of the Three Tribes, two unicorns, two pegasi and two earth ponies.

Pinkie Pie was an earth pony that had a –you guessed– pink coat and pink cotton candy like mane/tail and light blue eyes.

Applejack was an earth pony that had a light orange coat and a blonde mane tied by a red ribbon near its end while a similar ribbon of the same color tied her tail near its end, she had forest green eyes and was wearing a light brown Stetson hat on her head.

Rainbow Dash was a pegasus that had a light blue coat and a –you guessed again– rainbow colored mane and tail, her mane being unkempt gave her a more wild and careless look and she had magenta eyes.

Fluttershy was a pegasus that had a butter yellow coat, a light pink mane and tail both slightly longer than the average pony and teal eyes.

Rarity was a unicorn that had marshmallow white coat, azure eyes and well kept and stylised purple mane and tail.

Lastly, Twilight Sparkle, also known as Princess Celestia's faithful student, was a unicorn that had a violet coat, purple eyes and mane/tail that were dark blue with a purple and a pink streaks.

Celestia noticed that they were wearing their elements as they came running toward her.

“Princess, what it's going on? What is that strange phenomenon in the sky? Are we under attack? Is it another old enemy? Or maybe it’s Disc-” frantically asked Twilight only to be interrupted by Luna, “Calm yourself Twilight Sparke. We shall protect our subjects, with our lives if needed, against this unknown threat.”

“Luna are you slipping into the royal we again?” asked Celestia turning to her sister

“No sister I meant 'we' as in you and I,” Luna answered.

“Just checking, say how you all got here so quickly?” asked Celestia before adding, “I mean you and the elements?”

“The elements were about to leave Canterlot when this happened,” said Luna as she pointed to the sky before continuing, “I didn't sleep because I was strangely edgy and when I saw you flying, I just followed.”

Looking at the sky again she asked Luna without looking at her, “Luna, this phenomenon is somewhat familiar, isn't it?”

“Now that you mention, yes that does look familiar,” said Luna with a thoughtful look on her face.

“Familiar, so both of you have seen it before?” inquired Twilight.

“UH, UH, UH, maybe it's a portal for aliens to come and visit Equestria,” said Pinkie excitedly while keeping her hoof raised like a student in a class.

“Pinkie dear, where did you get such an absurd idea there is no such a thing as aliens. Seriously now is not the time,” Rarity declared confidently.

The rest of the mane six wordlessly agreed with Rarity, but they missed the look of uncertainty that the royal sisters gave each other.

Luna was about to speak when a thunderous noise immediately caught the attention of everypony.

From the center of the vortex, a beam of energy was shot and hit the ground before receding.

When the smoke cleared the beam of energy left an intricate and stylised circle that was burned into the ground.

But that's not what caught their attention, their attention was on the tall mysterious figure, seemingly made of metal, gold and silver intertwining in a complex pattern but the strangest feature was his legs, nothing wrong with them but he had eight.

Celestia and Luna both froze while looking at the visitor from beyond the star, Twilight interpreted as a sign that whatever this was it was an enemy.

Rainbow Dash being the reckless pony that she was she immediately rocketed at him.

“NO!! RAINBOW DON’T-” Luna tried to warn her but it was too late.

Before hitting the stranger a magic circle appeared in front of her, she tried to stop but it was too late and went through the circle and disappeared.

The circle reappeared behind him and Rainbow came out of it still flying at high speed, losing control she crashed on the floor of the city square.

The gold and silver on the stranger started to shift and disappear showing not only his gray fur but his eyes and hooves glowing with magical energy as well.

Celestia felt tears come out of her eyes as she felt the gaze of the glowing eyes of the stranger. Luna averted her gaze with the feeling of shame at being in his presence. Twilight was readying a spell as was Rarity, Pinkie brought out her canon and AJ had her rope out and ready while Fluttershy was hiding behind the guards that had their weapons ready to attack the possible thread.

“STOOOOOP!!!!”

The royal voice of both sisters made everypony freeze. The stranger approached the princesses while they remained in their position after the use of the royal voice.

“Hello Celestia, Luna, it’s been a thousand years since I last saw you two,” said the stranger with his deep and commanding voice.

Celestia hugged him before saying, “I missed you father.”

….

“FATHER!!!” everypony shouted.


	4. Meeting

Everypony was in shock, their minds were still trying to understand the reality in front of them with the exception of Pinkie Pie, she was blowing her nose on a napkin.

“Family reunions are so beautiful,” said Pinkie while wiping the tears from her eyes with her hoof.

No one, pony or otherwise, ever consider the princesses’ parents, the sisters have been ruling for so long that to the population of Equestria and the world, with the exception of  **really old**  beings, they just seem eternal, mortals sometimes forget that the princesses were born, just like everyone else.

Sleipnir was taken aback by his eldest daughter’s actions but welcome it all the same and using two of his forelegs he hugged her as well. He looked at the younger of the sisters with a concerned look he asked, “Why you don't meet my gaze? What troubles you my little moon?”

Luna just kept avoiding his gaze and not allowing herself to look at her father.

“It seems we have much to talk about…” sighed Sleipnir.

“Uuunnm…” came a sound in the awkward silence from AJ before she said, ”Pardon me your majesties, but Ah think we should move this reunion to the castle, you're kinda making a scene."

Sleipnir looked at the orange pony who spoke, then at the crowd that gathered in the square noticing that citizens had come out of their homes to see what the commotion is all about, luckily they didn't see their princesses loss of composure with a battalion of guards in between the royal sisters and the citizens, only the elements and the front half of the battalion saw that.

But all of them heard the shocking news, the connection between the princesses and the strange visitor. Celestia recovering from this lapse of control composed herself and let go of her father, who did the same. Clearing her throat she announced, "Yes everypony, this is my and Luna's father, Sleipnir," using her motherly voice to calm the crowd of agitated ponies and then added, "This was all a misunderstanding caused by our father's arrival, there is no need to panic, please return to your normal daily activities."

Luna recovered enough to look dignified before her subjects before she commanded, "Guards let us return to the castle and resume your duties as my sister and I have much to talk about with our father."

The ponies with their very strong herd mentality just accepted their princess answer and followed the Royal Sisters orders.

All but the mane six who had quite a few questions, except Twilight she had a lot and I mean  **a lot**  of question and Rainbow who was freaking out, ”Ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh, I just attacked the princesses’ father.”

**Half an hour later at the castle’s dining room**

On one side of the long table used for meetings of nobles, dignitaries, foreign leaders and rulers sat Sleipnir with his daughters, one on each side, while on the other side sat the mane six.

“I have canceled the day and night court of today and tomorrow so our subjects won't disturb us with nothing less than a national emergency,” informed Celestia to all those who were present.

Sleipnir, now without the glow on his hooves and eyes, sat drinking tea from the floating cup, putting down the cup of tea on the the glowing symbols on his forehead dimmed until it was no longer visible, ”Good because I have much to discuss with you two,” turning his multi-shaded and kaleidoscopic eyes to the mane six he asked, “What about them? I thought that this was supposed to be just the three of us."

“They are close friends, not only they helped my sister and me on many occasions but they are also the Elements of Harmony and they saved Equestria from many threats, ”Celestia spoke proudly and added,” I would like to consider Twilight and her friends family, especially my faithful student who I consider a daughter."

The mane six were blushing after being praised by their princess, Twilight and Fluttershy more so than the others, Twilight because she was the focus of the attention and Fluttershy because she was shy and was receiving attention regardless if she was or wasn't the focus, the fact that it is the princesses' didn't help and neither did Sleipnir's presence.

“So they are your champions and envoys” Sleipnir concluded.

"Verily, let us introduce them," Luna spoke not caring that she slipped into the royal we and to distract herself from the inevitable.

Luna pointed at the orange one and said,”This is Applejack, a humble farmer but her family is responsible for the best fruits of the land.”

“Oh shucks,” said AJ as she used her hat to cover her face.

Then Luna pointed at the white one, "This is Lady Rarity a very talented seamstress and fashionista, one of the best in Equestria.”

“Oh my, thank you, princess,” said Rarity in a ladylike manner.

Then the lunar diarchies pointed at the pink one, “This is Pinkamena Diane Pie or Pinkie Pie for short, an eccentric party planner responsible for all celebrations on their town.”

Then the pink one started jumping and waving her forelegs as if to keep his attention on herself while saying, ”Hiiiiiiiii!!!”

After that Luna pointed at the shy yellow one, "This is Lady Fluttershy a healer and caretaker of the creatures of the forest.”

All the while Fluttershy tried to make herself smaller, hide behind her mane and disappear under the table at the same time.

This time Luna pointed at the blue one with a very colorful mane, “This is the athletic Rainbow Dash that constantly trains herself and leads a team that manages the weather in Ponyville and the surrounding area.”

Then Rainbow adjusted her posture and saluted before saying "Rainbow Dash, at your service, sir.”

Then finally Luna pointed at the violet one the final member of the group, “And lastly this is my sister’s pupil and one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight was lost in her own little world coming up with questions to ask.

"Pst, egghead,” Rainbow called discreetly.

“What?” Twilight said only to notice that she missed her own introduction and blushed in embarrassment before she said nervously rubbing the back of her head, “Sorry."

Sleipnir sighed, might as well accept it and move on with his mission, so he introduced himself politely, “Greetings I am Sleipnir Lokison, father of Dagrsol ‘Celestia’ Sleipnirdottir and Nottmani ‘Luna’ Sleipnirdottir it’s a pleasure to meet you all."

“Those are very fancy names you got there, your majesties,” AJ commented.

“Applejack don’t be rude I for one think they are very exotic,” Rarity answers.

“Speaking of exotic, you are the princesses’ father, then where have you been all this time?” inquired Twilight.

“Performing my duties on the realm of Asgard," responded Sleipnir.

“Ah never heard of this place called Aguard,” said AJ.

“It's Asgard and I would be very surprised if you somehow heard of it considering that it’s in another world,” said Sleipnir unaware of the impact of his words.

“You mean to tell me that are other worlds with life in them?” asked Rarity already knowing the answer but not wanting to believe in it.

Twilight froze in shock as she repeated in her head “ _Aliens are real_!”

“Hah, I knew it!” declared Pinkie.

With the egghead of the group stuck in a mental loop a good question was asked surprisingly by Rainbow, “So cool, wait does that means that the princesses are aliens as well?”

“Wha-,ho-,but uuuuu.. I give up,” Rarity tried and failed to properly respond to that question.

“No, they were born on this world as were their mothers,” answered Sleipnir.

“Ohmygosh, I have so many questions like how did you get here? How many worlds do you know? How advanced is their magic? How is the-” Twilight got interrupted by his hoof signaling her to stop and said, “I hate to be rude but I already wasted too much time, I did not come to visit, I came on a mission, Luna and Celestia I came to inform you that my mother will come in the near future and will need to stay here for a while.”

“Your mother, our grandmother will come to Equestria?” asked Luna.

“Yes,” he answered.

“Why?” asked Celestia.

“What do you know of my side of the family?” asked Sleipnir

“Not much, only what you told us,” said Celestia.

“Two years ago Thor the God of Thunder and the eldest son of Odin, who is the King of Asgard with the help of Loki and four friends invade Jotunheim, one of the nine realms, storming the palace and demanding answers from the King of Jotunheim regarding a breach in Asgard's vault by two jotnar, needless to say that it didn't go well and both realms were on the brink of war. So Odin banished Thor for his actions and Loki assumed the throne because the king had fallen into the Odinsleep, a sort of healing coma. Loki's actions led to the death of King Laufey and the almost complete destruction of Jotunheim, luckily Thor met the requirements to return and stopped Loki by destroying the bridge, but unfortunately, this caused Loki to fall from the remains of the Bifrost into the void," narrated Sleipnir.

“A few months ago Heimdall the All-seeing witnessed my mother appear on Midgard and leading an invasion force that caused untold damage, but Thor with the help of Midgard's protectors manage to stop both the invasion force and my mother." continued Sleipnir.

“Father what was the purpose of the first story?” asked Celestia.

“Loki is my mother,” revealed Sleipnir.

*GASP* was the reaction of those present, except Rarity, she fainted.

“But this Loki is a stallion, right? How can a stallion be your mother?” questioned Luna in disbelief.

“Well, my mother is one of the most powerful, knowledgeable and experienced magic users of the universe, among his many powers and talents he can shapeshift, he was in the form of a mare when I was conceived, he stayed in that form to carry, birth, nurture and protect me. When I was old enough I was presented to my grandfather, Odin, to serve as his steed, which is a great honor, and sometimes his spy and/or envoy,” explained Sleipnir.

“Father you can not do this to us, you show up after centuries of silence just to say that you are going to drop your mother here!” Luna screamed in indignation.

“You think I don't know about Nightmare Moon or the incident with Discord,” said Sleipnir calmly and added,” I think that both of you can help my mother but the reverse is also true.”

“I must go now, mother will arrive either tonight or tomorrow morning, I will try to visit as much as I can,” then he got up and disappeared in a vortex of light.

“That could have gone better,” said AJ.

“Aliens are weird,” commented Rainbow.

“Tell me about it,” added Pinkie.

“But my questions….” lamented Twilight.

Rarity was still unconscious and Fluttershy was peeking from her hiding spot under the table.

“Now what sister?” asked Luna.

“We wait,” said Celestia.

**Canterlot Castle’s Courtyard at night**

Celestia and Luna saw the Bifrost opening and moved to be near its entry, now they stood there waiting for the arrival of their grandmother.

The Bifrost shot at the castle courtyard leaving a teal-colored alicorn taller than Celestia by few inches wearing gold plated black sleeves on his forelegs, a green cape that would have hidden his wings if not for the wind and a golden horned helmet.

“It's been awhile since I visited the realm of Statera,” commented Loki before taking a deep breath, taking in the chilly night air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dagr - day  
> Sol - sun  
> Nott - night  
> Mani - moon
> 
> I was thinking on using three words for each name, like the dovahzul or dragon tongue from Skyrim, but it would have been to long so I used just two instead.


	5. Tale

Celestia and Luna approached the new alicorn, looking at his eyes they couldn’t help but compare their grandmother –still weirded out by that fact– eyes to their father’s eyes, both of their eyes were a kaleidoscope of shades from a color, while their father’s eyes was blue their grandmother was green.

However the biggest difference between them was not physical, the princesses knew that their father was more powerful than both of them, but that's the first time in their lives that they encounter a living being vastly superior to them in power and age, looking into those green windows they glimpsed something ancient, broken, complex, beautiful, fearsome and unknown, like the very cosmos its promises seemed boundless and enticing, like a black hole it also promised doom with its all consuming hunger and like both it seemed unyielding and uncaring of the mere specks of dust that existed nearby.

All this was perceived in a moment and when Loki blinked the spell was broken.

When they turned their gaze away Loki answered, “First time seeing a being this powerful? Yeah, that tends to happen the greater the difference in power and age the worst the effect is, especially if you have great sensitivity to seidr,” while looking at his frightened and shivering granddaughters.

“Maybe we should take this conversation to a more comfortable location,” Loki commented.

The still shaken royal sisters just nodded and Luna said, “Follow us.”

**Canterlot Castle, dining room**

Now back at the dining room, the royal sisters having recovered from the experience were sitting on one side and their new guest opposite to them, the mane six had to return to Ponyville because they can’t ignore their jobs and responsibilities there and they should've been back yesterday.

“So, I assume you two know who I am and why I am here?” Loki asked.

“Only what you did and that you are our… grandparent,” answered Celestia.

“In actuality, I am your grandmother, but you may call me grandfather when I am male,” affirmed Loki.

“Excuse me, but did you said ‘when I am male’?” asked Luna with an incredulous look on her face.

“You don’t expect me to be a stallion all the time do you?” Loki asked back while raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know how to react to that,” answered Celestia while Luna just nodded.

“I take that you don't know much about Sleipnir’s side of the family,” said Loki.

“No, father never talks about his family outside of Equestria,” answered Celestia.

“So typical of him, he doesn't talk with his siblings, doesn’t visit me as often as he should and didn’t tell you about your extended family,” Loki commented offhandedly.

“Siblings? Father has siblings, did you know that sister?” asked Luna.

“No, I didn't, sister,” answered Celestia before she returned her attention to Loki and asked, “Out of curiosity, how many siblings does father have?”

“Not sure about the exact number, but right now a few hundred,” said Loki.

They were stunned not believing in the sheer size of their extended family, but at the same time, it shouldn’t be that surprising if their grandfather’s age and attitude were as they seemed.

“I think it’s better we talk about why you are here first,” suggested Celestia trying to focus on the reason Loki was here in the first place.

“Why? I thought that Sleipnir already explained to you the reason I was banished to Statera?” asked Loki.

“Statera?” Luna wondered aloud.

“Yes, that’s a name of this realm, although the Aesir and Vanir normally call it Sattheim,” answered Loki as Celestia sighed it seems that no matter what they asked, they ended up with more questions, picking a cup of tea she let Luna satiate curiosity for now.

“No, this land is called Equestria,” Luna answered back.

“By this realm, I mean this dimension, that is how it was called last time I was here anyway, are you saying that the name of this dimension was changed?” clarified Loki

“I was not even aware that our dimension, I mean realm, had a name. When was the last time you were here?” asked Luna

“About 6 millennia ago, give or take a few centuries,” answered Loki, which caused Celestia to choke on her tea.

“Wha- *cough**cough* what!! But we are around 2,5 thousand years old and recorded history started around less than 4 thousand years ago, how could you have been here before that?" questioned Celestia.

“Did you not want to know about my banishment?” asked Loki, he always liked to mess with others whenever he could by destroying their preconceived notions of reality, no matter who they were.

“Let's concentrate on your story, for now, you can answer our questions later, we want to hear your side of the story,” said Celestia after calming down.

“Where do I start?,” asked Loki.

“Two years ago according to our father,” answered Luna.

“Very well, my eventual descent into madness starts at my eldest brother’s, Thor Odinson the god of thunder, coronation ceremony. While the proceedings were happening two jotnar manage to sneak into the vault in order to recover the Fimbulvetr Skokkr, The Casket of Ancient Winters, but they were killed by one of the more dangerous items in the Allfather’s collection The Farbjodr, The Destroyer, a magic set of armor that moves on its own and attacks intruders with its destructive powers.” narrated Loki, then he stopped to take a sip of his tea.

“And with them dead it was impossible to know how they got there in the first place. Thor demanded retribution, but Odin was willing to ignore this incident. Either way, Thor’s demands just proved to Odin that his firstborn son was not ready for the throne and because of that the ceremony was canceled,” continued Loki before stopping again to take another sip of tea. Then he added, "But unknown to them I was the one that led the jotnar to the Casket.”

“Why would you do that grandfather?” interrupted Luna.

“Because Thor wasn’t ready for the throne and his actions afterward only confirmed that fact,” responded Loki before sighing and continuing his narration of the events that led to his fall, “Thor being the arrogant and narrow-minded Æsir that he is, he convinced me and his group of friends, The Warriors Three and Lady Sif, to invade Jotunheim, break into the palace and demand answers from King Laufey, needless to say that ended in a massive fight and the death of many jotnar, but during the fight a jotun touched me.”

“What is wrong with a jotun touching you grandfather?” asked Celestia.

“Jotnar are known as ice/frost giants, because of their size and ice cold touch any creature not resistant to extreme cold will, if touched by a jotun, at best get frostbite and at worst be frozen solid, but when a jotun touched me my skin turned blue like them. At that moment two things happened, the first I realised why was so different and treated as an outcast sometimes, I was a jotun taken by Odin in the last war between Asgard and Jotunheim, the second thing that happened was that with my shock something dark and twisted had invaded my mind and I wouldn’t notice until it was too late,” explained Loki.

“What is wrong with being a jotun grandfather?” asked Luna enthralled by the story of her grandfather and letting her foal like curiosity shine through while Celestia stayed silent and tried to be impartial to better understand the situation of her grandfather.

“Because of the war, Æsir are not fond of jotnar, in fact Asgardian children grow hearing scary stories of the ice/frost giants, they were the monsters that parents used to scare children into behaving, so find out that I was one shocked me enough for an unknown force to invade my mind and go unnoticed,” explained Loki to Luna while feeling happy to be looked at with childlike wonder by his granddaughter.

“As I was saying the battle was still going and we were cornered by an army of jotnar led by King Laufey himself, then the Bifrost opened and the Allfather came with Sleipnir and rescued us, because I warned the guards in the palace just before we left, but in the process broke the treaty between the realms. Thor was banished to Midgard for his actions and Odin fell into the Odinsleep but not before informing me of my heritage and the circumstances of my adoption,” narrated Loki.

“What is the Odinsleep, father mentioned it briefly? And about your heritage?” asked Luna.

“The Odinsleep is a healing coma that the Allfather must undergo to recover his seidr, his magic, you have to understand that in Asgard magic is considered a woman’s, I mean mare’s domain and males are expected to be warriors, Odin uses seidr only when needed, after all the good of the realms is more important than a warrior's pride and the people see this as a sacrifice, so when Odin uses seidr it is a matter of concern because doing so hasten the coming of this healing coma and it’s during the Odinsleep that Asgard is the most vulnerable. The fact that I am a sorcerer and the son of Laufey by blood does not help my case seeing as the Allfather ‘rescued’ me as a baby when he took the Casket in the last war between Jotunheim and Asgard.” explained Loki.

“With Thor banished, Hermod and Balder on missions, and Vidar and Tyr not being suited for the throne, Frigga appointed me as a temporary ruler, as my mind was starting to be corrupted the Warriors Three and Lady Sif asked me to use my authority to bring Thor back, but I refused because I knew that wouldn’t help at all, so when they try to bring him back without my permission something inside me snapped and I sent the Destroyer to kill them while conspiring with Laufey to kill Odin. Only for me to betray him and seemingly kill him and his forces and use that as an excuse to eliminate Jotunheimr and all of its inhabitants. I almost succeeded, but Thor managed to fulfill the requirements to overcome his banishment and return to Asgard, with the help of Heimdall, the All-seeing gatekeeper, he fought against me and broke the Bifrost and that left us hanging over the void at the edge of Asgard. Then Odin woke up and came to our rescue, but I couldn’t face him, so I let go of the edge and fell to what I assumed would be my death, how wrong I was,” lamented Loki.

“You wanted to die?” asked Celestia with surprise and pity in her voice.

Ignoring her, now too immerse in his own memories to care he simply continued the story, “The Bifrost bends time and space to connect different dimensions, its power can be used to disrupt the integrity of said dimension and collapse it, even though Jotunheimr wasn’t destroyed the breach between dimensions was still open when I fell. I fell into the void between voids, I saw the beauty, horror and complexity of time and space in its entirety: past, present and future. That experience broke me, but I couldn’t die since neither life nor death existed there, however the worst was yet to come. Eventually, I was in the presence and burdened with the eldritch knowledge of the Many-Angled-Ones and Those-Who-Sit-Above-In-Shadow, infinite knowledge is only useful with infinite understanding, my mind, body, soul and heart broke beyond measure and scattered through the multiverse and beyond. It took many billions of years for all my pieces to find themselves so I could be whole again,” finished Loki.

“So you are billions of years old?” asked Luna in awe.

“In fact, I manage to become an Elder of the Universe known only as the Traveler,” answered Loki.

“Elder of the Universe?” this time it was Celestia that asked.

“A group made of the oldest immortals in the cosmos all of them are many billions of years old and masters of an uncountable number of fields of magic and science, I kinda cheated since I am also a time traveler,” explained Loki.

“Two of my fragments are of note for this story, one fell in a distant corner of the universe a few weeks after my supposed death in Asgard, he was captured and tortured into submission to serve the Mad Titan, it was this fragment that attacked Midgard under the mental control of Thanos, the second fragment fell when the universe was young and amidst the first civilization since the Big Bang, where he met the ones that would eventually become the Elders of the Universe,” Loki continued to explain.

“So you have the memories of all your fragments?” asked Celestia.

“Yes I have,” answered Loki.

“If you are whole again, how did you get captured by your brother and banished here?” asked Luna.

“The fragment under Thanos’ control was the last one to be absorbed back into the whole, after that I took his place and let my brother take me to Asgard,” explained Loki.

“So you don’t need reforming at all?” asked Luna.

“That is debatable, but I do want to spend time with my cute granddaughters,” said Loki in a teasing tone before continuing, “While I don’t hate my adopted family, I also have no love for them, with the exception of Frigga, so being banished works just fine for me,” answered Loki.

“Well it’s getting late, let us retire for the night. Come, grandfather, I will take you to the room you will be using for the duration of your visit,” said Luna.

“Thank you, Luna,” said Loki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fimbulvetr - the name of the winter storm inside the Casket it means "big/great winter/wind"  
> Skokkr - box or casket.  
> Sattheim - comes from "satt" meaning harmony in this context and "heim" meaning dwelling, abode, world or land. 
> 
> Vanir (singular: Vanr)- another group or clan of gods in the Norse mythos and the inhabitants of Vanaheim. For more information go to:  
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanir
> 
> Jotun or Thurs (plural: jotnar or thusar)- it means “giant” it is used for any type of giant. To define which type of giant you are referring to you place the element before the word giant. Ex:  
> Hrímjotun or hrímthurs (frost/ice giant),  
> Hrímjotnar or hrímthursar (frost/ice giants),  
> Eldjotun or eldthurs (fire giant),  
> Eldjotnar or eldthursar (fire giants),  
> Obs. Jotun originally meant something like “hungry” or “man-eater” and thurs something like “thirsty” or “blood-thirst” so the names refer to their vicious nature more than their size. That is why many monster in Norse mythology are considered jotunar/thursar no matter the shape, size or form, like Fenrir and Jormungandr, both are considered jotunar. For more information go to:  
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jötunn
> 
> Æsir (singular:Ás)- the name of the group or clan that were the first inhabitants of Asgard. For more information go to:  
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Æsir
> 
> Obs. Æsir and Asgardians are almost always the same things, with a few exceptions as not all Asgardians are Æsir, for example, Frigga is a Vanir from Vanaheim and Bestla, Odins’ mother, is a jotun from Jotunheim, neither of them was born on Asgard but nevertheless are Asgardians. Calling them Asgardian is like calling a Japanese or Chinese an Asian, a french or German a European or call any person on Earth an earthling. It isn’t wrong in most cases but you ignore much of their culture by generalizing them in a much larger group but that isn't much of an issue, because modern day Asgardians are a mixture of Æsir and Vanir, only the older and more traditional members of either clan, from before the Æsir-Vanir War,  
> take issue with that.
> 
> The Elder of the Universe: They are some of the oldest living beings in the universe. Each of the Elders is the last survivor of their respective species, most of which evolved right after the “Big Bang”, they are virtually immortal and not only have they outlived their respective races, they have also all outlived their original galaxies, they have all attained some level of cosmic power. As the relatively few survivors of the earliest period of the universe, the Elders regard themselves figuratively as brothers and sisters. They do not often associate with each other aside from the Grandmaster's schemes, Grandmaster is an Elder. For more information go to:  
> http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Elders_of_the_Universe_(Earth-616)


	6. Reflection

**Canterlot Castle Halls**

After showing the guest room that would be Loki’s room for the duration of his visit, Celestia and Luna wished him a good night of sleep. They started a conversation on the way to Celestia’s chambers.

“What are your thoughts on grandfather?” asked Celestia beginning the conversation.

“I don’t know yet sister, but it's refreshing to just feel like a normal pony meeting another family member, and our grandfather at that,” answered Luna.

“It certainly is, it’s the first time in millennia that I felt like a foal unaware of the world, in this case, the universe,” said Celestia before adding, “I don’t know why our great-grandfather, Odin, thought it was a good idea to send grandfather here, if what we felt from him in our first meeting in the courtyard is right, he could, if he wanted, conquer the this world without much resistance.”

“Indeed it was the first time I felt so overwhelmed in my long life, although if we consider our father and grandfather there are individuals and species that can easily not only match our age but are powerful enough to consider us mere foals,” concluded Luna as the sisters reached a golden double door decorated with a stylized sun symbol.

“It gave us much to think about and proved how ignorant we are about the universe and its inhabitants, well good night sister and good luck with your duties,” said Celestia while she opened the double doors and entered.

“Thank you, sister. Good night, see you at breakfast,” said Luna as she started the walk to her chambers, night court might have been canceled for the next few days but she still had the duty to watch over the dreams of her little ponies.

It wouldn’t make much of a difference as not many petitioners were willing to come to her court unless they had a request that couldn't wait for them to schedule a time in Celestia’s court, ponies with business that operate at night and occasionally a pony that enjoyed the nightlife in Canterlot wanting to meet her, but Luna preferred this way, it was better than dealing with petty, vain, greedy and power-hungry nobles, frequent and futile requests that were rejected multiple times before and ponies that just want an excuse to see Celestia, the regularity of the latter was astounding.

Luna liked the attitude of the business ponies, they were polite but straightforward and don’t waste time, which worked for her just fine, that left her with more time to be the guardian of dreams that her subjects needed. Entering her chambers she let her physical body rest as her astral form explored the dreamscape for any nightmare that might be lurking.

**Loki’s room at the castle, just after the sisters left**

Loki looked around the room, it was quite luxurious for the average hard-working citizen but it was ordinary for nobles. He liked the room this way, to indulge in luxury occasionally was fine, after all, reveling in excess gets old really fast.

The Trickster thought about his granddaughters, Nottmani or Luna as she preferred to be called was opening up to him, maybe she felt a sense of kinship with him, very likely if you take Nightmare Moon into consideration, Dagrsol or Celestia on the other hand... hoof was wary of him probably trying to prepare for a worst-case scenarios for the good of her subjects, even young like this she reminded him of Odin too much for his liking, maybe he can change that in the future.

Loki found a mirror on the door of the wardrobe, he stood in front of it and observed his current form, a teal-colored horse –or a very big pony if you want to be picky– with a very long cone shaped horn with spiral details around it, a brief shimmer of green light later and his clothes disappear leaving only the Crown of Lies –his helmet– then he channelled his seidr through his horn to create a telekinetic hold on his helmet, took it off of his head and let his black mane flow around his face.

The Prince put his crown on the bedside table, then he returned his gaze to the mirror, shifting his position to look at his side he saw his wing with teal colored feathers having multiple shades of green getting darker at the tip and a sigil in his hindquarters, the image of two snakes chasing after each other’s tails.

But unlike that of his granddaughters, his was a moving picture, the two snakes endlessly weaving through each other’s coiled bodies. Then he went to the bed, he laid on his left side and was ready to sleep, but before that could happen he looked at the Crown of Lies.

Since clothes were optional in this form it was better to change the crown into a more practical form, concentrating on it, a shimmer of golden light later and the crown has a new form.

**Next morning**

Loki woke up with the sound of someone knocking on the door, he sat up on the bed when two pegasi guards, a stallion and a mare, opened the doors.

“Your Highness it's time for breakfast..is...“ The guards trailed off while taking in the image before them.

Loki sitting on the bed his androgynous figure making him both beautiful and handsome, his face illuminated by the beams of light coming from the gap between the curtains, the light of the morning sun reflecting on his half open multi-shaded green kaleidoscopic eyes in an almost hypnotic pattern, his long waving black mane framing his face and moving by a unseeing wind just like the princesses, the same light of dawn that illuminated his face also being reflected and refracted on the glossy and silken strands of seemingly obsidian from his mane giving him a outworldly, almost tangible, aura.

*POMF*

The wings of the guards extended, but they paid no mind to their embarrassing situation as they were to entice by what was in front of them. Loki, now fully awake, after a few minutes was getting annoyed at the fact that they were shamelessly staring at him, while he didn't mind being the center of attention they had a message to deliver, they could at least delivered the message before shamelessly staring at him. Using his seidr he pushes their helmets in front of their eyes breaking their trance.

“Deliver the message before allowing your minds and eyes to wander,” Loki lecture them on their inefficient behavior.

“A thousand apologies for our inexcusable behavior Your Highness!!!” they said at the same time while bowing to him.

“Just get on and be done with it,” ordered Loki, the air crackling with his seidr showing his impatience.

They shivered in fear feeling at his monstrous, to them, magic but they said,” The princesses requested your presence for breakfast, we are to accompany you there.”

“Will this meal be served in the same room as the one from yesterday?” asked Loki.

“Yes Your Highness,” responded the mare.

Loki got out of the bed before he used his magic to fix the bed, groom his mane and put on his crown, all of this made in a fluid and elegant motion.

“Come, let's not waste any more time,” ordered Loki as he walked past them. Then they got up and silently follow him.

On his way there, while making a turn Loki bumped into someone, keeping his Asgardian attributes even in this form he almost didn’t feel that he bumped into another pony.

Loki was about to politely apologize and offer help, but the stallion he bumped into started to talk immediately after the accident, "How dare you bump into me like this, do you have any idea of who I am?”

Whatever apologies Loki had for him died before leaving his mouth, he ignored the petty noble and was about to be on his way when the stallion got up and blocked his way.

“Don’t ignore me, hasn’t anypony taught you to properly address to a pony of my status? You must be a peasant, no matter how beautiful you are a true noble mare would know how to properly behave in my presence.” said the white stallion with a blonde mane.

“I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with your kind right now, be gone,” said Loki with his clearly male voice.

Blueblood was embarrassed by this turn of events and in front of the servants, guards and passing nobles all of which noticed the wings on Loki’s sides, Blueblood was oblivious to that fact because he was in front of Loki and couldn’t get a clear view of the Asgardian's sides.

“Guards arrest him for trying to ruin my image and reputation, also for disrespecting royalty,” demanded Blueblood.

Loki just raised an eyebrow, noticing the lack of action on the guards part Blueblood questioned,”Why are you not arresting him?”

Before they could answer Blueblood’s question the double door leading to the dining room, where the princesses’ meals were served, opened and Celestia came out to see what the commotion was about.

Blueblood seeing his chance to turn the situation in his favor –how wrong he was– called for his aunt,” Auntie! These guards are refusing to follow my orders.”

Celestia just looked at the guards, it was unusual for guards to refuse Blueblood, that only happened when his orders were unreasonable.

“And what were your orders Blueblood,” Celestia asked like a concerned mother.

“To arrest this ruffian for assaulting and disrespecting me,” said Blueblood simply, he had a reputation to keep after all.

Celestia had to resist the urge to facehoof at the situation.

“Celestia we are already late for breakfast, it might be best to just send them away,” said Loki ignoring Blueblood.

“How dare you speak with royalty like that?!" said Blueblood to Loki before turning to Celestia and say, "See auntie, he must be put in the dungeon immediately."

“Unfortunately I can’t agree with you Blueblood,” said Celestia.

“Why auntie?” asked Blueblood.

“He is my grandfather,” answered Celestia, she wanted to wait until later today to introduce her grandfather, but now that was no longer possible.

“G-gr-gra-gra-grandfather!!! But then I, he,you….” Blueblood tried to say something but fainted from shock in the process, if it was because there was another alicorn, he was Celestia’s grandfather or the way Blueblood spoke to him, it was anypony’s guess.

Celestia sighed looking at the guards on the dining room’s entrance she asked, "Could you him to the infirmary? Come grandfather let eat.”

As Celestia and Loki entered the dining room the onlookers started to gossip, soon the news/rumors would spread through Canterlot.

**Dining Room**

“What took you so long sister?” asked Luna.

“Blueblood,” said Celesta.

“Say no more sister,” answered Luna before turning to Loki and ask, "We were hoping that you could answer few of our questions grandfather.”

“How about a trade? A question for a question,” suggested Loki.

“We agree,” answered Celestia after looking at Luna and nodding.

“After breakfast, I haven’t had a decent meal in almost two years,” suggested Loki.

“Of course grandfather, you are a guest in our home,” said Luna before clapping her front hooves to call the servants.

The trays of food were delivered and breakfast was served, Loki almost commented on the lack of meat but then remembered that he was in a herbivore’s form. At least the assortment of fruits, vegetables, grains and flowers were delicious, it's fascinating how one’s taste can change radically by assuming another form.

After eating breakfast the trio waited for the trays to be removed before starting the conversation.

“Before we start, why were you late for breakfast?” asked Luna.

“Those two over there just keep shamelessly and lustfully staring at my body while I was in bed and neglecting their mission to deliver the message to me,” answered Loki while pointing –as best as could since he had no fingers– to the guards that were about to leave the room and guard the door outside, seeing as the guards that were previously guarding the entrance were now in the infirmary with Blueblood.

“WHAT!!” screamed Luna while Celestia choked on her tea, she was getting the feeling that this will happen again in the future with alarming frequency. The guard in question froze but composed themselves and turned to face the consequence of their lapse of judgment.

The pair tried and failed to not squirm under the glare of a very angry alicorn princess and the look of disappointment on the other, but Loki concluded his explanation completely ignoring the sisters' reaction, "Indeed, they should deliver the message before shamelessly and lustfully staring at my body."

“Are you not angry at their blatant disrespect?” asked Luna.

“Not at all. I do not want to sound narcissistic, but it's not their fault, I know that I can sometimes entice and enthrall mortals, I had thousands of children after all,” said Loki nonchalantly.

“Very well, return to your duties but be mindful next time,” ordered Luna.

Then the guards left the room leaving only the three royals.

“Who gets the first question?” asked Celestia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obs. Most of Loki's children are from the times he disguised himself as a mortal of either gender and suppressed almost all of his otherworldly attributes, the result is that the children were mortal with slightly more potential for magic than the average of whatever species they are. Loki tries to avoid having gods and/or demigods for children but it happens from time to time. Fun fact, in some versions of the mythos trolls are considered just another type of jotnar and in some others, all trolls are descendants of Loki.


	7. Questions

“I got one, who is that spoiled brat?” asked Loki.

“Our nephew, Prince Blueblood,” said Celestia.

Loki just raised an eyebrow as if asking to elaborate.

“He is a descendant of one of our half-siblings from when our mothers were still alive,” explained Celestia.

“Thanks, Yggdrasil I am not related to that brat,” said Loki.

“He is not that bad once you get to know him,” added Luna.

“Our turn, you mention a dark presence invading your mind in the battle on Jotunheimr, did you discover who or what that presence was?” asked Celestia.

“Yes I have, it was Thanos reaching for a potential pawn for his plans, using an Infinity Gem no less, the Mind Gem to be more specific, unfortunately, I was deemed the pawn,” answered Loki.

“What is an Infinity Gem?” wandered Luna aloud.

“Now is not your turn, I will answer that after my question,” commented Loki before asking, “So do any of you have or had lovers?”

“WHAT!! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO ASK SUCH A QUESTION!!??” Luna screamed in the Canterlot Voice clearly embarrassed of being asked such a question.

“I will take that as a no and what is wrong with a grandmother knowing if her precious little fillies have somepony special in their lives?” spoke Loki in a motherly and teasing tone, and to get his point across he changed his form to suit his statement.

The change was so subtle that they didn't notice at first. It was only when his voice changed to a silken, honeyed, almost sultry tone that could enthrall anyone, regardless of gender or species, that they noticed that he, now a she, was not the same as before.

Now they are stunned, they were informed by their father that Loki was a shapeshifter but to see this ability in action almost without them realizing was awe-inspiring, that demonstration his, now her, mastery of magic.

“What's up with the silence, it's your turn to ask a question, come to think about it you asked about the Infinity Gems,” commented Loki acting coyly and using her soft, smooth and honeyed voice while she uses her right wing to cover the lower part of her face, not unlike a fan.

“Eeeeeh..yeah,” Luna just agreed, incapable of formulating sentences at the moment.

“Very well then,” answered Loki folding her right wing on her side on its original position.

“The Infinity Gems or Stones are artefacts of great power that exist in the universe since the Big Bang, there are six in total each one giving power over an aspect of existence, they are the Mind Gem, allows you to control, recreate, destroy and reshape the minds of any sentient being in the cosmos, the Space Gem, allows you to be anywhere you desire to be, you are basically omnipresent, the Time Gem, allows you to manipulate and move through time at will, the Power Gem, allows you to increase your natural power indefinitely and manipulate all cosmic energy that exists, the Soul Gem, allows you to trap the soul of those that live and have lived and read their memories and feelings, the Reality Gem, allows you to reshape the fabric of reality at will in the whole universe,” concluded Loki before adding, “Those are the Infinity Gems, but it's no everyone that can use them, you must already be powerful and have experience in controlling the energies of cosmic level and/or have untold mental discipline otherwise you will be destroyed by the Gem’s power turning against you.”

By now the sisters have recovered from the shock and were curious about the Gems.

“I have never heard of such artifacts before,” said Celestia.

“Neither have I, sister,” added Luna.

“I would be surprised if you did, very few beings in the universe knows about them and even fewer can use one of them, also they tend to stay in the universe’s main dimension, Midgard’s dimension,” explained Loki.

“Thanks for the explanation grandfa- I mean grandmother,” thanked Celestia.

“Could you go back to being a stallion, it's a little unsettling to see you as a mare after meeting you as a stallion and why would you change gender now?” asked Luna.

“Because I felt like it. And that's another question but being the gracious mare that I am, I will let that one slide,” said Loki to Luna before asking, “Is there any other member of your extended family that I should be aware of?”

“Yes there is, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence for short but she is on a diplomatic mission and is in a relationship with the captain of the royal guard Shining Armor, who also is the brother of my star pupil, Twilight Sparkle one of the Elements of Harmony,” explained Celestia.

“Interesting,” said Loki.

“About something you and father mentioned before, what is Yggdrasill?” asked Celestia.

“Yggdrasill, the world tree, is an energy field, a metaphysical structure, that supports and connects the Nine Realms. It is represented as a tree, its roots and branches permeating time and space. So even realms like Statera that aren’t located in the main branches are still connected by it,” explained Loki.

“Now what are your domains?” asked Loki.

The sisters looked at each other confused by their grandmother’s question, so Luna simply answered, “It's the land Equestria.”

“No, I mean your divine domain, the sphere of influence in which your power is the strongest, basically what are you a god of?” clarified Loki.

“I see, my domain is the Moon, the Stars, their light and dreams,” answered Luna.

“My domain is the Sun and its light,” answered Celestia before adding, “And we don’t consider ourselves to be above other to call ourselves goddesses.”

“I see,” said Loki with a somewhat disappointed tone.

“What?” asked Celestia after hearing her grandmother’s tone.

“No it is nothing, it seems neither of you realizes the full extent of your powers and that both of you are demigoddesses, I know the former because your inner sigil isn't fully developed, ponies these days call it cutie marks, such a childish name,” said Loki.

“What?” this time it was Luna who asked.

“Demigods, in this case, means to be somewhere between mortal and god, you can be born one, that is your case, or become one either with the help of an already existing god or under your own power and effort,” explained Loki paying no mind to Luna’s surprise question.

“Actually, that makes sense and also answered a lot of questions that I had," said Celestia remembering Cadence ascension to alicornhood.

“Being an alicorn and a god, in this case, a demigod aren’t mutually exclusive status. It’s possible to become one without becoming the other,” Loki added to her explanation causing Celestia to remember a certain unicorn unbrum king, that would explain his power.

“What are your domains, grandmother?” asked Luna returning Celestia from her trip down memory lane.

“Well I am god/goddess of strategies, conspiracy, plots, lies, stories, secrets, change, mischief, evil and to an extent master of the natural elements,” answered Loki.

Loki’s answer was more than enough for the sisters to be on guard, Celestia more so than Luna.

“You are a deity of evil. How can this be?” asked Celestia.

“I am evil in the sense of adversity that constantly pushes the others to surpass themselves, or die trying, in the eyes of others I am both the narrator and the villain of their stories,” elaborated Loki.

“I really don’t know what to think about that, we are the granddaughters of the god of adversity,” said Luna to herself.

“One more thing before we end this conversation, the citizens of Equestria worship both of you, right?” asked Loki.

“Yes they do,” said Celestia before she sighed, no matter what she does or said her little ponies worship her and now her sister as well, to a lesser extent because it’s been over a year since she returned.

“Once a being achieves the status of a demigod the prayers of your worshippers empowers you further and gives you additional powers besides your original ones," added Loki before getting up and walking to the entrance of the dining room. Reaching the entrance she opens the doors, the guards look at her and were so surprised by her change of gender that they almost fell over.

“Do these good-looking guards mind giving me a tour through the Castle?” requested Loki while acting flirtatious.

They were unsure if they should proceed with Loki’s request, looking at Princess Celestia, she just nodded.

They bow, turned around and started walking, “Please follow us, Your Highness,” they said and Loki followed.

As Loki left to explore the castle the sisters were left to ponder about the information they were given.

“Sister I think we should give her a chance,” said Luna.

“I don't know Luna it's difficult to believe in her when she is the goddess of lies” answered Celestia.

“Goddess of lies she may be but she still our grandmother, doesn’t she deserve the benefit of the doubt?” asked Luna.

*Sigh* “You are right if she truly wants to change and learn her lessons I will be glad to help, besides she is the goddess of change as well maybe it won’t that bad,” answered Celestia.

“Shouldn't you inform Twilight of this?” asked Luna.

“Maybe later, we should let grandmother settle down first,” answered Celestia.

**Two hours later, courtyard**

It took two hours for Loki to familiarize herself with the castle and memorize all the important, to her, locations.

It was quite amusing to see the passersby widen their eyes in surprise when they saw a “new” alicorn mare, only when they look at the crown of lies, not that they knew its name, and her cutie mark, how she disliked that childish name, did they notice that she isn’t a new alicorn but one that they have recently met he just changed gender, she lost count of how many of them fainted.

“Thank you for the tour, that will be all,” said Loki before adding, “Both of you can return to your post.”

“Are you sure your highness?” asked one of the guards.

“Yes I am sure, if I need something else I will call either a guard or a servant, for now, I just want to relax,” said Loki.

As the guards left Loki laid beneath the shade of a tree, which was Twilight favorite spot before moving to Ponyville, extending her right foreleg a ripple of golden light leading to one of her many pocket dimensions used for storage appeared just above her hoof, a book fell and she caught as the ripple disappeared.

Loki put the book on the ground in front of her and she started to read it.


	8. Pact

**Earth, England, an abandoned factory in London**

Dr. Jane Foster and her intern, Darcy Lewis, find themselves in an abandoned factory investigating strange spacial and gravitational anomalies that might lead her to learn more about the Einstein-Rosen Bridge, which the Asgardians call Bifrost or Rainbow Bridge so that she could finish her thesis.

(Jane Foster on the right and Darcy Lewis on the left)

As Jane investigated the anomaly her intern and her “assistant” Ian were playing with the portals, as she heard something and went to check and she was whisked away.

**Unknown location in an unknown realm**

Jane found herself in a dark cavern, on its center was a monolith with a red glowing crack, as she approaches her curiosity gets the better of her and extend her hand then everything went dark.

**Asgard a few minutes before**

On the Bifrost stood Heimdall the gatekeeper that guarded the entrance of the Realm Eternal, his red and gold armor reflecting the light of the Bifrost.

As the God of Vigilance and Protection cast his gaze over the void from Himinbjorg, he saw the many realms in existence perched in the branches of Yggdrasil, being the Asgardian with the keenest of senses, he could see and hear almost all the known universe. These senses were a blessing and a curse, he could see a single snowflake falling from the skies of a small world floating in space dimensions away, but to prevent his own senses from overwhelming him he wore a helmet that dulls them just enough for him to not go mad.

Thor approached Heimdall and asked, “How is she?”

“Still looking for you, she hop-” Heimdall started to answer but stopped to focus his attention on something.

“What?” asked Thor.

“I can’t see her,” said Heimdall as he activated the Bifrost for Thor to travel to Midgard.

**Somewhere in the void in an unknown realm**

A solid black vessel activated and awoke its crew, among the many warriors, all of them were survivors of the war of Bor Burison against the Dökkálfar, the Dark Elves, who tried to use the Aether, the Reality Gem, to extinguish all light in the universe, was Malekith the Accursed former king of Svartalfheim.

“The Aether has awakened, it’s time for all realms to fall under the darkness of our vengeance,” said Malekith while smirking.

**Hours later at Asgard, while is under attack**

Malekith and one of his Kursed have reached the room of the All-Mother, where she was protecting Jane Foster the current host of the Aether.

As they battle the Kursed’s blade was about to reach the queen when a green barrier stopped the attack and pushed the attacker away from the queen, it was this moment that Thor came and manage to throw Malekith off of the balcony, while the queen finishes off the Kursed.

Malekith had no choice but to retreat after Thor managed to scar and blacken half of his face with lighting.

**Hours after the attack at the funeral for the fallen warriors**

The royal family stood in silence as did the people of Asgard, the bodies of the fallen were carried by the waters of the Golden Realm on boats, once they passed the limits of the city flaming arrows were launched from the bows of the Einherjar, they hit the boats and were set aflame just before the bodies reached the waterfall on the edge of the Realm Eternal, their bodies fell and their souls ascend to Valhalla.

Odin and Frigga watched, remembering that this is the price of was, but Thor and his brothers for the first time saw what war was like and all this was simply overwhelming for Jane Foster.

Thor, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif were conspiring to take the fight to Malekith instead of waiting for the next attack and were failing, they didn’t know how to travel to Svartalfheim without the Bifrost or the help of Thor’s pet goats, only Loki or a sorcerer of his caliber could travel between realms freely and even fewer knew how to do so without being noticed by Heimdall.

**Canterlot Castle’s Courtyard in the realm of Statera**

Loki finished reading her book, as she closed it disappeared in the same ripple of light that it came.

“It’s almost time for dinner,” she said to herself before casting a spell that allowed her to see and hear through the dimensional barrier that separated the realm of Statera from the rest of the universe, she focused her attention on one particular realm, on a particular gatekeeper, on a particular bridge.

“Hello Heimdall,” said Loki coyly.

**Across dimensions in the realm of Asgard on the Bifrost**

Heimdall gaze focused on a particular dimension but still keeping vigil.

“Prince Loki,” he answered.

“You know Thor will only make the situation worse with his recklessness, right?” asked Loki back in Equestria.

“So my suspicions were right,” said the gatekeeper.

“And what are your suspicions, Heimdall?” asked Loki coyly.

“You are not the same prince that fell from the Bifrost nor the one that attacked Midgard,” answered Heimdall.

“And you are right, although I am surprised that you didn’t tell Odin or Frigga,” said Loki to the gatekeeper.

“I only do and speak what is requested of me by My King,” said Heimdall.

“Whatever you say, that is no longer my problem, it was good to talk to you, bye,” said Loki as he ended the spell.

Unknown to Heimdall Loki cast another spell when the gatekeeper blinked, after all even a god like Heimdall must let his mind rest, even if said rest is less than a heartbeat, because of this the spell would go unnoticed by Heimdall for a while, just enough to reach Thor.

**Canterlot Castle’s Courtyard in the realm of Statera**

“Who are you talking to, grandmother?” asked Celestia as she got closer, she finished her duties earlier thanks to the lack of the day court in her schedule.

“Just having a friendly conversation with the gatekeeper, Heimdall,” Loki answered innocently.

“The one that sees all?” asked Celestia.

“Common misconception, he just sees the majority of the known universe?” Loki answered as she got up and started walking with Celestia to the dining room.

“That is a very scary ability to have, just the thought that there is a stallion capable of that out there is scary enough,” said Celestia trying to open up to her grandmother.

“Well he is the God of Vigilance and Protection after all,” added Loki.

As they reached the dining room they found Luna was already there waiting for them.

After they finished eating their meal in silence and all the plates were taken Luna asked, “So what do you think of Canterlot so far, grandmother?”

“It’s peaceful, but then again ponies tend to be very passive creatures,” said Loki.

“Well, you are not wrong,” commented Celestia thinking about how her subjects were very comfortable with her leadership, their very strong herd mentality didn't help either, it was rare to find a pony with ambition, but it was easy to gather followers and ironically this it was this herd mentality that led her subjects to become somewhat xenophobic, so unless they interacted with other species regularly they preferred to keep their distance.

“Good thing that you ponies are isolated in the realm of Statera, any other realm and you would have either been conquered or destroyed long ago,” added Loki.

“Do you really think so, grandmother?” asked Luna.

“Considering all the species that evolved and spread through the cosmos, yes definitely,” answered Loki.

“Well, it’s getting late and Luna still has to patrol the dreamscape for nightmares, we can continue this conversation tomorrow and maybe you can meet the Elements of Harmony,” said Celestia.

“That would be lovely, well goodnight then,” said Loki as she went to her room leaving the two sisters to talk a little before going their separate ways.

“Sister, the time we spend with grandmother was enlightening and made me realize how much we don’t know about the universe,” said Luna.

“I agree, maybe it’s a good thing that she came here, in the two days we talked with her we learned more about the universe than a millennium of studies,” commented Celestia.

“Indeed sister,” said Luna before asking, “We will visit Twilight and her friends tomorrow?”

“Yes, I think it will be better this way,” answered Celestia before adding, “Goodnight sister.”

“Goodnight,” said Luna as each sister went their way.

**Asgard, Royal Palace, just after Loki and Heimdall's conversation**

Around a table Thor, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif planning their next course of action.

“We can’t wait for another attack, we have to get them out of Asgard,” said Thor in frustration.

“We agree, but we can’t use the Bifrost and none of us know how to travel to other realms without it,” said Sif the female warrior and friend of both Thor and the Warriors Three.

“Loki knows how,” commented Fandral the Dashing, a blond and handsome member of the trio.

“But he was banished from Asgard, so we can’t reach him,” said Hogun the Grim, the more level headed and ruthless of the trio, also the pessimistic of the group.

“So all we need to do is calm down and think in a better plan,” said Volstagg the Lion of Asgard, the optimistic of the group and the one with the biggest appetite for both food and adventure.

“Easier said than done and I wouldn’t trust that snake,” said Sif.

“That snake can hear you, you know,” said Loki in Æsir form suddenly in the room.

All others present got up and ready for a fight but Sif was the only one to attack first and on instinct, her sword went through Loki's body as if he wasn’t there and left a trail of green mist on its path. Then the mist reformed into his body and he just raised an eyebrow at Lady Sif vicious attack at the sound of his voice.

“How are you here, Deceiver?” asked Sif glaring at him.

“That's not how you talk with the person that went out of his way to help his friends,” said Loki almost in a lecturing tone.

“Brother, how are you here?” asked Thor.

“The beauty of it is that I am not,” said Loki before adding, “What you all see before you is just a thought and image projection, an illusion, that only those present can see and hear, it wasn’t easy to sneak this spell pass Heimdall.”

“So you came to help us,” asked Volstagg almost hopefully.

“We can not trust him,” said Hogun.

“Maybe we should give him a chance? What do you think Thor?” asked Fandral.

“I trusted my brother but he fell into the void and didn’t come back since, I don’t trust the twisted person that attacked Midgard but you are different, something about you changed not only that but you protected our mother even when you have been banished and for that I will trust you,” said Thor after much consideration before adding, “But if you betray that trust we will kill you.”

“Fair enough,” said the image of Loki.

“Will you guide us to one of your secret paths?” asked Thor.

“Yes but this is merely an illusion so don’t expect me to fight,” answered the image of Loki.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” said Hogun.

“You always have a bad feeling about everything,” said Fandral to Hogun.

“I still don’t trust that snake,” said Sif.

“I don’t think we have a choice in the matter,” said Thor to Sif.

“We depart after dinner, right?” asked Volstagg.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Himinbjorg - the name of the observatory/gatehouse on the outer edge of the Bifrost. It is also where Heimdall lives.


	9. Plans

Thor, Lady Sif, the Warriors Three and Jane Foster were following the image of Loki, it was quite a shock for Jane to see Loki, especially after his attack on New York and it took a lot of convincing from Thor for her to agree to listen to Loki.

The reason no one, not even Heimdall, couldn’t see Loki was because the spell was projecting the image of his Æsir form and voice only in the minds of the ones he intended, however it was possible for others to discover that there was a spell over the eyes and ears of the group, but only if they were to look very closely and thoroughly so only Heimdall and the healers could discover that.

The image of Loki had a very small sliver of the original’s seidr so it could create illusions to fool the einherjar, this allowed Thor’s group to sneak into the docks to steal a small ship, but the moment that the ship left the whole Asgardian army would know that something was amiss.

 

As they all got on the ship Loki said, “One thing before we go, I'm going to need to control one of you to steer the ship.”

“I knew you couldn’t be trusted!” said Sif unfolding her sword.

“Wait Sif! Brother, explain yourself,” said Thor to Lady Sif before addressing to Loki.

“Of course, using the sliver of my seidr that is over your bodies I am going to assume control of the arms of a volunteer to steer the ship and navigate through the secret path between realms,” explained Loki.

“Why should one of us volunteer for your plan?” asked Hogun to Loki.

“First it’s better than your original plan of stealing a dark elf ship and second the amount of seidr used will be very small, just enough to control the arms and you can break my control with little effort,” said Loki.

“Or so you say,” added Sif pointing her sword at him.

“Indeed, better not resist though,” said Loki before adding, “Because if you do I won’t be able to steer the ship and navigate through the treacherous path and you all die.”

“And what about you?” asked Volstagg munching on his last piece of food, an apple.

Loki looked with disdain at the Lion of Asgard but nevertheless, he answered, “Have you forgotten, what stands before you is just an illusion.”

“I will do it, brother,” said Thor with conviction.

“Thor you can’t do this, who knows what he will do,” said Jane trying to stop Thor.

“We need him to guide us anyway, with or without him controlling one of us,” said Thor before adding, “Without his help, we will not make it anyway.”

“Very well,” said Sif accepting Thor reasoning and folding her sword, while the Warriors Three were still uncertain there was nothing they could do, the only reason they got this far without being detected was that of Loki’s illusions.

Ready or not they took off with the stolen ship, the moment they did that the alarm was sounded and the Einherjar were mobilized, going to their designated positions while others entered the ships.

Loki used his seidr do create a subtle illusion over the boat, that caused the Einherjar that were chasing and shooting at them to miss by a very small margin as they sailed across the atmosphere of Asgard.

“Whoever is going to be my conduit better get ready because as soon as I take control you cannot resist and I won’t be able to use misdirection to defend the boat,” said Loki their vessel was being pursued by two others.

Thor on the helm relaxed as much as he could in the situation when he felt Loki’s seidr coursing through his body, he felt his arms on the helm moving without him wanting to move them, steering the ship in the direction of one of Asgard’s mountains near its edge.

“Loki whatever your secret path is we better use it now,” said Thor as the ship moves toward the mountain and Loki just looks at the group’s distress with amusement, “Loki we are going to crash on that mountain,” said Thor looking at the image of Loki just standing there with his hands behind his back, “Loki, do something,” said Thor again as they were nearing the rocky surface, “Loki!” Thor said again and still no answer, “LOKI!!!” screamed Thor as a collision became inevitable, only for them to pass through the rock as if it wasn’t there.

Having passed the illusion covering this secret entrance they found themselves in a very narrow passage that the boat almost didn’t fit, despite being narrow Thor, in this case, Loki was navigating through its curves by slowing, accelerating and inclining at the right moment.

“I never knew such a passage existed,” said Fandral.

“Quiet, I need to concentrate now, we can talk when we reach a safe area,” said Loki before adding, “Thor do not tense your muscles if you want this group to survive the trip keep your muscles relaxed, I don’t want the ship getting off course or crashing.”

After 15 minutes they reached an empty area, literally empty with nothing except for the structures in the distance.

Releasing Thor of his control Loki pointed to a specific sphere in the distance and said, “That is Svartalfheim, just go in that direction, but it will take some time to reach it though.”

“What is this place?” asked Fandral looking at this void.

“The space between realms, we are jumping from one branch of Yggdrasil to another,” explained Loki.

“Like using the Bifrost,” said Volstagg.

“No, the Bifrost creates a tunnel between two realms like an artificial and controlled version of the Convergence by connecting two points of Yggdrasil, we just jumped from one of its branches and now we are on the empty space between them,” Loki clarified.

“So we are outside of the Tree of Worlds!! This is madness, if I knew that this was your plan I would never have agreed,” said Hogun.

“What is done is done there is nothing we can do about it,” said Thor.

“Indeed, now we wait,” said Loki.

**Hours Later in Svartalfheim**

In a desert of black sand, the Asgardian boat appeared and crashed in one of its dunes.

The passengers were recovering, except Loki who was just floating near the group, from the unexpected landing.

“It won’t be long before the dark elves arrive, what is the plan?” asked Fandral.

“We must….

**A few minutes later**

They saw Malekith land his ship and lead the search party.

Loki’s seidr left the bodies of the Asgardians and converted into an image that somewhat gave him a physical form to interact with the world.

“Now!” shouts Thor.

Thor threw Mjolnir at Malekith, but the Dark King dodged and just as Mjolnir was coming back and Thor’s friends were about to reach the search party a green glowing chain of energy bound their limbs while a glowing green blade cut Thor right hand off causing Mjolnir to crash behind the group.

Thor pushed the pain of having his hand cut off aside to look at the one responsible only to see Loki holding the green chain on his left hand and a green sword on the right hand while smirking at them.

“Malekith! I am Loki Laufeyson from Jotunheim and I believe this belongs to you,” said Loki while pulling one of the chains, the one with Jane and putting her on her knees in front of Malekith.

“And what you want in exchange?” asked Malekith.

“I knew we couldn’t trust you vi-” Lady Sif started but a green muzzled appeared over her mouth, a very similar one used on him after his defeat in Midgard, and just to be sure he muzzled the others as well.

“I just want a front row seat to see Asgard burn,” said Loki.

“Very well,” answered Malekith as he extended his arms and extracted the Aether of Jane’s body.

“Now!” shouted Thor as a green flash of light covered his severed hand and disappeared revealing that the illusion was dispelled and that he was fine and still had his hand, then he called Mjolnir to rain down lightning on the Aether. As this was happening Thor’s friends leaped from the false chains and attacked the other dark elves letting out a battle cry as the muzzles disappeared as well.

Thor’s lightning couldn’t destroy an Infinity Gem and exploded, that sent him into one of the dunes with great speed, Malekith raised his arms commanding the Aether to come into his body, so he could use its power and spread darkness throughout Yggdrasil.

The Aether seemed to obey him and flow toward him only to shot past him, turning around he witnessed the Aether coalesce into a floating sphere of liquid above Loki’s extended left hand.

“You can control the Aether?” Malekith asked in disbelief.

“I can do many things, like this for example,” said Loki as a green swirling portal opened just behind him.

Spears of ice came from the portal, struck the Kursed and they were frozen solid, jotnar walked out of the portal and joined the battle.

The group of jotnar was led by…. King Laufey.

As all dark elves were frozen solid the Asgardians got into a defensive formation around Jane. They prepared for the jotnar’s attack but it never came.

“Look what we have here, a group of lost Asgardians,” said King Laufey with his deep voice, which showed his distaste.

“Laufey, how can you be alive? Loki killed you,” asked Thor.

“That's not my story to tell Son of Odin if you want answers, ask the Trickster,” said the King of Jotunheim.

“How can we trust a word of what you say frost giant?” asked Hogun, more like demanded in a rude and disrespectful tone.

“How dare you speak with King Laufey like this, I should behead you where you stand,” said one of the jotnar.

Laufey raised a hand signaling for him to stop before saying, “You don’t Asgardian, the only reason I don’t kill you and your friends is that I am under a geis.”

“How we can be sure you are not lying?” asked Fandral.

“Because I was the one that put him under that geis,” said Loki with the Aether floating above his left hand.

“You made an oath with Laufey?” asked Sif in disbelief.

“Of course, how else was I supposed to make sure he helped when I needed?” sarcastically asked Loki.

Laufey growled at Loki’s tone of voice, Loki just ignored him knowing that there was nothing he can do about it.

As Laufey glared at Loki the Bifrost shot at the ground not far from the groups and from it came the Allfather with a squad of einherjar.

Odin didn’t let his surprise show at seeing Laufey alive or Loki present in this place, approaching the two groups he asked, “What is the meaning of this?”

“My King, we were fighting the dark elves when Loki used his seidr to summon the frost giants that you see before you and freeze Malekith and his forces,” reported Hogun to the Allfather.

“Laufey,” said Odin as he turned to face the King of Jotunheim, not bothered by the height difference.

“All Father,” said Laufey in return.

“I see that you somehow survived,” said Odin.

“Not without paying the price, now I am under a geis and incapable of wage war against Asgard, in the end, it seems you finally got what you wanted,” said Laufey.

“I am sure both of you have a lot to talk about, but if you don’t mind I have to go, here is the Aether,” said Loki as he conjured a case with a handle around the Reality Gem and let it float to the hands of the Allfather, Odin just accepted the item in question, he could get his answers later.

“Don’t worry the portal will close once you are back at Jotunheim, so I will leave you to your conversation, bye bye,” said Loki as dissolved into green mist and disappears.

**Realm of Statera, Canterlot Castle, Loki’s room**

Loki woke when she felt the memories of the thought projection that she sent to help Thor against Malekith as well as the projection that she sent to Jotunheim to recruit the help of Laufey return to her.

Soon it will be the time to set her plans in motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geis is a magical contract obligation or prohibition, similar to being under a curse, vow or spell. It's from Irish mythology. It's essentially a binding oath, or just oath in the Old Norse, breaking an oath is one of the worst crimes imaginable to the Old Norse mythos, there is a place in Helheim solely to punish oath-breaker, one of the reasons that Loki prefers to bend his promises instead of outright breaking them. For more information go to:  
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geas  
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath


	10. Surprises

Loki woke up as the sun shined on her face, it seemed she forgot to close the curtains, yesterday she was admiring the city while it wasn’t as impressive or advanced as many of the cities that she saw in other worlds it was nice and simple, sometimes it was good to just relax and not have to deal with your problems, to others this may be her punishment, an exile from the Golden Realm, but to her it was a nice –and hopefully– long vacation. Of course, that does not mean that she wouldn't be enacting a few of her plans, but that's was a concern for another day.

As Loki got up and stood in front of the mirror brushing her mane and tail, she could do it with magic but she liked the feeling of a brush on her mane. Once done she put on her crown and did a few poses, feeling that something wasn’t right, a quick flash of shimmering green light later and Loki was back at being a stallion, she, now a he, felt like being male today.

As Loki finished changing, he heard the knock on the door.

“You may enter,” said Loki a little louder than normal for the guards to hear.

The door was open revealing the same guards from yesterday, they seemed to have learned their lesson as they walked into the room.

“The princesses requested your presence for breakfast and today at afternoon Princess Luna will accompany you in a visit to the neighboring town of Ponyville to meet Princess Celestia’s star student,” announced the mare.

“At least you delivered the message, now you can gawk at me to your heart's content,” said Loki not even bothering to look at them or stop posing in front of the mirror.

“So how do I look?” asked Loki.

The guards were trying to keep a straight face as he was getting ready and it was proving very difficult.

“You look amazing Your Majesty,” said the stallion.

“Indeed I do, so let's go then,” said Loki as he turned and started to walk to the dining room being followed by the guards. They managed to get there without incident or interruptions, but unknown to him a surprise was waiting for him inside the room.

As Loki entered the room he spotted his granddaughters, but what surprised him was the presence of Blueblood as Loki sat he kept his eyes on the prince.

“Why is he here?” asked Loki.

“Well grandm-, I mean grandfather, Prince Blueblood wanted to apologize for his behavior from yesterday,” answered Celestia.

“And why should I accept the insincere apologies of a petty noble?” asked Loki.

“Grandfather, at least hear what he has to say,” pleaded Luna knowing the true Blueblood under his mask of pettiness he used to deal with the nobles trying to take advantage of his status as a prince.

“Very well, but be warned I am the God of Lies and if you are not 100% honest I will know,” said Loki turning his attention his step-great-(insert many great here)-grandnephew.

“Weren’t you a mare yesterday?” asked Blueblood.

Loki just raised an eyebrow silently asking how he knew, Loki was sure he meet him when he was a stallion before breakfast.

“I saw you as a mare before dinner so I wasn’t sure if it really was you,” Blueblood answered the silent question.

“I do not conform myself with labels such as gender I do and am what I feel like,” Loki answered Blueblood previous question.

“I am truly sorry for the way I behave yesterday I just assumed that you are another one of those ponies that wanted to take advantage of my position, I thought that you were trying to meet me by ‘accidentally’ bumping into me, so I just did what I usually do, but when you ignored me it felt like an insult and I had a reputation to keep. Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that the unbearably arrogant and petty prince is not the real me but how my late mother expected me to be. The only ones I ever open up to were aunt Celestia, aunt Luna when she got back from the moon, cousin Cadence when she was adopted into the royal family and Twilight Sparkle who never cared for the opinions of nobles,” confessed Blueblood before bowing and continuing, “They had nothing to gain from me so I felt that they could get to know the real me, when I discovered who you are I was devastated because I may have ruined the chance to have another true friend, friends that were more of a family to me than my late parents that raised me.”

Blueblood looked at Loki hopefully, he never had many friends even while growing up, any friends he made would either try to take advantage of his status when they found out who he was or were shunned by his fellow nobles, both children and adults alike, by saying that “It wasn't befitting of a prince to associate himself with those that didn’t have a noble lineage”, needless to say, that he was a very lonely foal and it would have been worst if wasn’t for Celestia being there to comfort him in his time of need.

“I can tell you are being honest both with me and with yourself,” said Loki as his eyes softened as he remembered his own childhood how Odin was “Too busy to spend time with him” either ruling or teaching Thor how to rule and failing on that task as Thor would rather be gallivanting around with his friends then learn how to be a king. He also remembered how his other brothers didn’t even try to befriend him with the exceptions of Thor and Balder, Thor would just drag him in his adventures even when he didn’t want to go and Balder was to set on the ideas and values of the Æsir so he could never be 100% honest with him, his only source of comfort was his adopted mother.

Even now Loki looked at the memory of his mother smiling proudly at him when did a spell with fondness, but him learning magic just made him a disappointment in the eyes of others, soon this disappointment became disdain and his fellow Asgardian no longer wanted to be close to the “treacherous prince”, now he no longer cares about their opinions or standards.

“I accept your apologies, come sit with us for breakfast,” offered Loki to Blueblood.

Celestia and Luna looked the scene with a smile, happy that they were getting along, there certainly was more to their grandfather than meet the eyes, but it is to be expected as he was vastly older than anypony alive. They made small talk, got to know each other better and ate a good meal and for the first time in eons, Loki almost felt what was like to have a family again.

**Ponyville, this morning few minutes after Celestia raised the sun**

Twilight woke up not long ago with the sunrise, she set on her usual place while Spike –who was more of a morning person, in this case, dragon than Twilight– put a cup of coffee on the table in front of her. As she drank the hot coffee she came out of her “morning zombie mode”.

“Thank you, Spike, nothing better to start a day than a cup of your special coffee,” said Twilight.

“Oh, you are making me blush,” said Spike a little embarrassed.

“But that's just the truth, I have a good feeling about today,” said Twilight before adding, “Especially with the day we had yesterday, with your greed growth, rampaging and all that.”

“Yeah, let's not talk about it,” said Spike before burping a scroll with Celestia’s mark and saying, “Look Twilight a letter from Princess Celestia.”

“What does it say? Oh, I am so excited what new assignment she has for us?” asked Twilight.

“Dear Twilight, today Luna will be accompanying our grandmother/grandfather in a visit to Ponyville to meet you and your friends and to learn more about the lives of our subjects. Please do not worry about this visit since it isn’t an official one, it’s just a visit from a friend. Regrettably, I won’t be able to go as I have to attend court that I have postponed for the last two days, have fun. Signed, Princess Celestia,” read Spike.

“Why did you think she wrote ‘grandmother/grandfather’?” asked Spike as he inspected the letter.

“It must be the one that arrived on the second beam of light that night,” said Twilight before realizing what was on the rest of the letter, “And they are coming to visit TODAY!!!”

“This will mess with my schedule, and I need to tell everypony to prepare for a royal visit and then I will have to org-” started Twilight before she started to hyperventilate.

“Twilight! Calm down, the princess said that it’s a casual visit just tell your friends and act normally,” advised Spike making Twilight calm down as she listened.

“You are right Spike my friends will know what to do, it is just a casual visit there is nothing to worry about,” said Twilight agreeing with Spike on the first half of her phrase and the latter half to herself before adding, still talking to herself nervously, “What could go wrong?”

Spike looked at her unkempt mane and twitching eye and it didn’t inspire confidence.

“Yeah, what could go wrong?” Spike said in a deadpan tone.

**Near Ponyville, just past noon**

Flying toward Ponyville on a golden chariot being pulled by two pegasi were two alicorns, Loki and Luna, both of them were admiring the scenery, Loki more so than Luna since it was his first visit.

“It was very kind of Celestia to lend her chariot, it’s better suited for traveling during the day than mine,” said Luna.

“Why do we have to fly on this chariot when we have a perfectly functional pair of wings?” asked Loki.

“Well, it is customary to escort royalty,” said Luna.

“Tell me about it, I have been in so many worlds, saw so many civilizations but leaders always have to deal with escorts, sometimes it’s fine to just stretch your wings,” said Loki.

“That may be so but I think it’s sweet that our subjects want to help us in whatever way they can,” said Luna.

*Sigh* “Sometimes I forget that you ponies have a very strong sense of community and herd mentality,” said Loki.

“You speak of it as if this is something bad,” commented Luna.

“It isn’t, but my mind works differently, on Asgard I was a loner and on that place the only sense of camaraderie comes from drinking, feasting and singing about the epic battles you fought and the maidens you bedded or in the case of the shieldmaidens how many heads they took,” said Loki before adding, “I always preferred the way of the light elves, discussing your scholarly pursuits over a fine dinner,*sigh*, just another reason that I never fitted among Asgardians.”

“I suppose different species have different ways to bond and express themselves,” commented Luna nervously.

“You have no idea how weird the universe can be,” said Loki in a very serious tone.

Not long after that the chariot started to land and soon after they arrived in Ponyville and as they got off the chariot ponies saw a new alicorn and started to talk, the photographers took pictures and reporters started to write on their notebooks, by tomorrow all of Equestria will know of this new alicorn.

The Royals walked toward a house build in a tree and by the time they arrived there they gathered quite a crowd of curious onlookers, noticing them Luna turned to address to the crowd.

“Citizens of Ponyville there is no need to come and greet us personally, we are just visiting the elements, you can go back to your daily routine,” said Luna in a very loud voice, but not Royal Canterlot Voice level though.

“Eh, we are wondering who is the new alicorn?” asked a pony in the front.

“He is not new, he is just visiting Equestria and he is my grandfather,” said Luna with her normal voice to the now quiet crowd.

*GASP*

They were frozen with wide eyes and jaws dropped, it was not every day they hear that. It took a few minutes for them to recover and return to their routine, had it been anywhere else in Equestria it would have taken longer, but with Ponyville’s craziness they kinda got more used to the seemingly ludicrous situations such as meeting the grandparent of the centuries-old princess, the fact that Pinkie Pie lived here didn’t help.

“Could you wait here for a moment?” asked Luna.

“Why?” asked Loki.

“Twilight can be a bit overzealous when a royal visit is concerned, I just need to make sure everything is alright,” said Luna.

“Very well,” said Loki as he conjured a bench beneath the shade of Golden Oak Library, summoned one of the books from his vast collection and started reading it.

Not too far from the library, we find a trio of adventurous fillies walking on the street.

“Maybe we should ask Twilight for help. I mean, you sprained your hoof pretty badly when we tried to get our cutie marks on bowling,” said Scootaloo to Sweetie Belle who was limping.

“Hey, is that an alicorn?” said Apple Bloom.

They approached Loki, as they got closer Loki heard their little hooves hitting the ground.

Loki looked away from the book to the trio of fillies, noticing the that the white one was limping, avoiding putting too much weight on the right foreleg, when they got close enough they just keep staring at him in awe, more specific alternating between his horn and wings, he sent the book back to his pocket dimension.

“Can I help you, little ones?” asked Loki.


	11. Revelations

**Jotunheim, on the cliff where the Bifrost hit before Loki’s fall, the morning of that day**

As the Rainbow Bridge shined its beam of energy upon the frozen ground of Jotunheim the Allfather walked out of the beam in the direction of Utgard, a stronghold near the Capital City, following the One-Eyed King was Thor Odinson the Thunderer and Balder Odinson the Gentle Protector, his sons that were accompanying him on this mission and soon after the escort for the three royals came out, a squad of Einherjar.

Thor observed the landscape remembering the battle that was the beginning of Loki’s downfall, Thor was –for lack of a better word– thunderstruck when he learned of Loki’s origin, he also remembered how vocal he was about his views on the frost giants and that probably didn’t help his brother’s sanity.

Thor and Balder were with Odin on a diplomatic mission to get answers from Laufey and also to bring the dark elves currently in custody of the ice giants back to Asgard for judgment because Laufey refuse to give up “his prisoners” to the Allfather without a formal meeting.

Thor insisted on coming in this mission to learn more about Loki but has to keep his literal thunderous rage in check as to not give a reason to start another war and Balder was here as a diplomat just in case. Thor wished that Lady Sif and the Warriors Three were with him on this mission, having his friends close would help, but they were busy with another mission just as important and he hoped they were faring better than him.

**In a far distant corner of the universe on a private space station**

The group of four Asgardians navigated on the interior of the solar system sized vessel drifting in outer space, to meet the master and owner of this station.

As they passed displays containing artefacts of both mystical and technological origin, exotic animals that were never seen before by asgardian eyes or have been extinct long before they were born, even sentient beings locked in these display cases with a look of hopelessness on their faces or whatever organ used to express their emotions, having long ago resigned themselves to their fate, not even death was a option as their master and owner wouldn’t allow them to die and even if they somehow died their owner would just bring them back to the world of the living mere moments after.

“How distasteful to keep them locked for eternity without an honorable way out,” said Sif carrying a black case with glowing red lines.

“This place kills my appetite,” said Volstagg as he and the rest of the Warrior Three acting as bodyguards for Lady Sif, not that she needed protection, and their cargo.

“Let's just meet him and be done with this mission,” said Hogun in a tone that expressed how grave the situation was.

“Still we need to show respect otherwise he will turn his wrath on us, or worst Asgard,” said Fandral.

“He won't defeat Asgard with just his forces,” said Hogun.

“That may be true, but the cost of victory will be too high,” said Sif.

As they got closer to a door they were greeted by a mostly human-looking alien, a female with red-colored skin and blue eyes wearing a light gray and purple dress.

This woman was Carina the current assistant of Taneleer Tivan the Collector, who was the master and owner of this station.

“The master is waiting for you,” Carina said in a pleasant but emotionless tone of voice, she extended her left arm gesturing for the Asgardians to enter while she stood there waiting like a doll or a piece of decoration, a sentient being deprived of the freedom to even express herself unless it was to greet the Collector’s guests.

Entering the chambers they found the Collector leaning on the guardrail of the balcony with a look of contemplation as he observes part of his collection –on this station anyway– while taking a sip of his wine.

The Collector turned at the sound of the automated door made of alien metal opening, looking at his guests he overdramatically bowed without disturbing his glass of wine on his right hand.

“Asgardians, what an honor it's been so long since one of you visited my humble abode,” said the Elder of the Universe in an almost melodramatic manner as if he was an actor on a play or a singer in an opera.

“Collector,” said Lady Sif.

“Is that what I think it is?” asked the Collector letting the finger of his freed hand wriggle in excitement.

“Indeed it is Lord Collector,” said Fandral while bowing respectfully as Sif offered the case.

Taneleer let go of his glass as it was put on a floating disc of the exact size of the glass base, taking the case with both hands he inspected.

“Why that One-eyed would give up the Aether?” asked the Collector.

“The Tesseract is already on the vault, to have two Infinity Gems in the same place is to invite disaster,” responded Sif before adding, “In exchange for lending the Aether to you, you must protect it until it is needed, by the order of Odin.”

“Who knew, he was right after all,” the Collector said to himself before addressing to the Asgardians, “Send my regards to the Traveler when you see him.”

“We shall tell Odin,” said Fandral.

“Odin,” said the Collector before bursting in a maniacal fit of laughter, he held the case by the handle with his left hand while he uses the right one to cover his forehead as he looked up, this caused the Asgardians look at each other nervously.

“Excuse me Lord Collector, but what is so funny?” asked Volstagg.

The Elder suddenly stopped laughing, straightened his posture and gazed at the Asgardians with a serious face that doesn’t hide his amusement.

“Asgardians, so narrow-minded that they don’t notice what was in front of them all the time,” the Collector said –more like thought and spoke to himself but was heard– it was not like he was trying to hide it from the Asgardians anyway.

“What do you mean?” Sif spoke clenching her hands in an effort to not attack the Elder for disrespecting Skyfather Odin. Had been any other god she would have attacked without hesitation, but the one before them was not a mere god, he was one of the oldest beings in the cosmos rivaling the most ancients of elder gods both in age and power, attacking him was a foolishness of the highest order.

“You think I am talking about that one-eyed brat, no I am talking about a fellow Elder and you already met him,” said the Collector.

“But the only Elder that we contacted is you,” said Fandral.

“Think! His name is Traveler, then what do you think he travels through?” said the Collector before adding, “Here is a hint ‘Yggdrasil’.”

“What the World Tree has to do with this Traveler,” said Hogun while he thought about the tree that stretches across space and time… time….

“The Traveler is somebody we have already meet and is or will be a time traveler,” answered Hugon alarmed at the implications of his answer.

“Bravo, bravo!” said the Elder as he mockingly and slowly clapped his hands.

“Indeed he is a time traveler that arrived when the universe was still young and has been here ever since,” said the Elder before adding, “You have already met this powerful sorcerer if I am not mistaken he was banished from Asgard a few days ago.”

“But the only one banished from Asgard recently was…” Volstagg started but was interrupted by Lady Sif, “We have to go back, now!”

They just turned and left, leaving the Collector alone with his new addition.

“One down,” he said to himself while gazing at the case and finished his phrase, "Five more to go."

**Back in Jotunheim just after the Asgardians left the Collector**

Odin and his party arrived in Utgard, the massive gate of ice and stone was guarded by two jotnar with enchanted spears.

The gate was open allowing them to enter the fortress of ice, as they walked to the meeting room Thor took this time to look at the frost giants he saw them training, talking, laughing or glaring at him, now they were just like any other race and not the unfeeling monsters that most Æsir painted them as.

As Thor contemplated his views they reached the meeting room, there was Laufey waiting for them and he was not alone. Beside him was a giant that looked like a younger version of Laufey with a few features that Thor didn’t recognize, probably a son.

“Sit,” said Laufey without greeting them.

“We have come for the dark elves and answers,” said Odin.

“That's rich coming from a thief and a liar,” said Laufey.

Thor immediately got up and ready himself for a fight followed by Helblindi. Balder also got up but to restrain Thor so that he wouldn't be able to cause another incident, while Laufey just placed a firm hand on his son’s shoulder.

“Sit down, boy,” said Laufey to his son.

“Why do you call me thief and liar, King Laufey?” asked Odin.

“You took more than just the Fimbulvetr, you also took my firstborn,” accused Laufey.

“I took the Casket as a spoil of war and saved an abandoned infant,” answered Odin.

“That just shows how much you know about our culture,” said Helblindi angrily.

Laufey raised one hand signaling for his son to stop before asking Odin, “And why do you think the infant was abandoned?”

“He clearly was left alone in the cold for being a runt,” said Odin.

“How dare you said th-” started Helblindi before once again being stopped by his father.

“Interrupt again and you will be sent back to the Capital,” said Laufey to his son before adding, “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes father,” said Helblindi.

“Unlike what you think we don’t kill ‘runts’ as you put it, on the contrary, a làgr erfingi is a good omen they are treasured in jotun society since they are gifted with great potential for seidr, you took with him the promise of a great future for Jotunheim!” said Laufey and on the tail end of his explanation he shouted while angrily hit the table and managed to crack its surface.

“That still doesn’t explain why he was alone in the temple,” said Odin while his sons were listening.

“Newborns jotnar will absorb seidr of their surroundings in the first hour of their lives, but with a làgr erfingi this process can take at least a day, the longer it takes the greater is their potential. Loptr as a prince and my firstborn was placed near the Fimbulvetr, the greatest fountain of seidr and a natural nexus of energy in Jotunheim. He was there for three days before you took him, he had the greatest potential in our history, it's no surprise that he could become a very powerful sorcerer,” explained Laufey.

“That explains the change in color, he absorbed a portion of the Odinforce,” said Odin to himself, but made sure to be loud enough for the others to hear.

“Do you know how distraught Farbauti was when Loptr disappeared from the temple, our most secure location after it was ransacked?!” shouted Laufey.

Thor was conflicted, it was the first time he saw this side of Laufey, despite being the ruthless king of the frost giants, now he saw a grieving father. The ice giants were just like any other sentient being they fight, they love, they die and they protect their family and realm even if the culture was very different.

“The only reason that I am in this meeting is because of the geis Loptr placed on me and because of that geis I can’t wage war on Asgard without a good reason and I can’t start a war, in the end, you got what you wanted Allfather, peace between our realms,” said Laufey.

“Indeed, not the way I envisioned, but Loki did bring peace to our realms,” said Odin before addressing to the reason why they were here, “you promise answers, how did you survive? I saw you die.”

“I am not sure myself, when I was about to die time stopped and I could see that the beam of Gungnir froze a few inches shy of hitting me, that's when he appeared. Loptr told me what his younger self was about to do and he offered me a deal, he would save me and Jotunheim of that fate and give us back the Fimbulvetr in exchange for helping him in the future with his plans,” narrated Laufey.

Thor and Balder looked at each other with concern, Loki’s plans were notorious for accomplishing their objective in an unexpected manner and more often than not it didn’t end well for whoever was on their receiving end.

“Before you ask, I don’t know what he is planning or when he will call,” said Laufey.

“But do you know how he saved Jotunheim from the Bifrost?” Balder asked politely and in the most diplomatic way.

“I don’t, I woke up in the healers' chambers and they informed me that two years have passed and Helblindi ruled in my place,” answered Laufey before addressing to Helblindi “Just answer their questions, the sooner you do that the sooner we can go back.”

“Loptr suddenly appeared and stopped the Bifrost from destroying Jotunheim. I don’t know how since I’m neither a scholar nor a seidr expert and not a single scholar on Jotunheim can explain what he did, it was beyond our current understanding,” explained the Helblindi.

“Now to the other reason we came, what you want in exchange for giving Malekith to us?” asked Odin.

When they were about to start the negotiations the door was suddenly open and the Warriors Three and Lady Sif entered the room.

“Allfather we have grave news!” said Lady Sif with a look of urgency on her face followed by the Warriors Three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words in old norse:  
> làgr - small  
> erfingi - heir
> 
>  
> 
> Jotnar that were born small but with a great gift for magic.  
> Also the "will absorb seidr of their surroundings" is my way of explaining the different types of jotnar.  
> Loptr is an alternative name for Loki, in this story, it’s the name that Laufey was going to give his firstborn. In this story jotnar of Jotunheim only receive a name after they are done “absorbing the seidr of their surroundings”.


	12. Unexpected

**Equestria, present time**

Loki just looked at the trio of fillies.

“Are you really an alicorn, mister?” asked Scootaloo while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom kept staring at Loki in awe, Sweetie Belle even forgot about her injured hoof.

“Indeed I am, little one,” said Loki addressing to Scootaloo, who seemed to be the leader of the group.

“Awesome! My name is Scootaloo, this is Apple Bloom and this is Sweetie Belle,” said Scootaloo while she pointed at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle respectively at the moment she said each of their names.

“How is that possible? Ah thought that there were only three alicorns and all of them are mares,” said Apple Bloom looking at Loki with suspicion.

“Hey, Apple Bloom don’t be rude,” said Scootaloo before facing Loki a say, “Sorry but she is a little paranoid today and she overreacts sometimes,”

“Is that so, that can be easily solved,” said Loki as halfway through the phrase his image shimmered and left him in the form of an alicorn mare.

“Wha- but- the- how?” said Apple Bloom.

“It’s just a simple spell, nothing to fuss about,” said Loki as he returned to his male form, for now.

“I don’t think that's what Apple Bloom meant Mr Alicorn?” said Sweetie Belle only to remember that he didn’t introduce himself to them.

“How rude of me, I didn’t introduce myself,” said Loki at the question of Sweetie Belle before continuing, "My most used name is Loki.”

“What do you mean by ‘most used name’? And how are you an alicorn, anyway,” asked Apple Bloom while “carefully investigating” the mystery that was this new alicorn.

“Apple Bloom!” said Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle at the same time.

“There is nothing wrong in being a little curious,” said Loki to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle before answering Apple Bloom’s question, “And to answer your first question in the simplest way possible, I am very old so in my life I was given a lot of names, as for the second question, I am Luna and Celestia’s grandfather.”

“You don't look old enough to be a granddaddy,” Apple Bloom accused Loki.

“He's an alicorn!” Scootaloo retorted for Loki.

“How many alicorns do you know that aren't part of the Royal Family?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Besides Princess Celestia is, like, a bazillion years old but she looks younger than Granny Smith.” said Scootaloo while waving her little forelegs trying to convey the enormity of the “number” in question.

“Yeah, Ah guess you're right,” said Apple Bloom trying and failing to hide her blush of embarrassment with a smile and rubbing the back of her head with her right foreleg.

Loki saw Sweetie Belle wince as she put a little weight on her right foreleg.

“What happened?” asked Loki as he got up from the conjured bench, he gently took her right foreleg in his hooves before doing a simple analysis spell and discovered that she sprained a muscle.

“I ...fell?” said Sweetie Belle.

One does not need to be a God of Lies to know if what she said is true, Loki just raised an eyebrow.

“Sweetie Belle! You can’t lie to an alicorn,” said Apple Bloom

“That’s not cool and he can throw you in the dungeon,” added Scootaloo.

“Ok, we were trying to get our cutie mark at bowling, but it didn’t end well and on our way back to the clubhouse we run into Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, then they teased us for being blank flanks and Diamond Tiara tripped me. I landed funny on my hoof and now it hurts,” said Sweetie Belle as her eyes started to water.

“And why haven’t you gone to see a healer?” asked Loki.

“Twilight’s place was closer and she is, like, super smart, so we thought she could help,” said Scootaloo.

“Hold still,” said Loki to Sweetie Belle.

A multi-shaded green aura appeared around Loki's horn and the many hues of green reminded the CMC of leaves of a tree under the light of the sun. The same aura enveloped Sweetie Belle’s right foreleg and a warm feeling spread over it before disappearing.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore,” said Sweetie Belle as she smiled cheerfully and hugged one of Loki’s forelegs.

“Thank you Mr Loki,” she said as she nuzzled his foreleg.

Ponies and their openness when it comes to displays of affection and gratitude.

Children, when not told something by adults, tended to let their honest opinion be known, on Asgard parents would never let their children get close to the treacherous and scheming prince destined to bring Ragnarok. It became an unspoken rule among the common people of Asgard, but he could hear their whispers and gossips when they thought he wasn’t there, so he stopped caring what others thought of him.

“Now, why was this Diamond Tiara bullying you for being ‘blank flanks’?” asked Loki because he never liked bullies, seeing as the receiving end of such act, this only pushed him further in his studies of seidr, an effort to trick the bullies and keep them from hurting him.

“She thinks that just because she has her cutie mark and is rich she is better than others, she picks on us because we don’t have our cutie marks yet,” said Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom noticed that Loki’s eye twitched at the mention of cutie marks and asked, “Mr Loki, are you ok?”

“Yes, I just have a distaste for the so-called ‘cutie marks’,” said Loki.

*GASP*

“How can you not like cutie marks?!” asked Apple Bloom.

“It shows your special talent,” added Sweetie Belle.

“And you already have yours and is...wow,” said Scootaloo looking at Loki’s cutie mark.

“It can’t be that...wow,” said Apple Bloom as she followed Scootaloo’s example and looked at the alicorn’s flank.

“Girls, what’s wrong? Girls? What...ooh, that is what the fuss is about,” Sweetie Belle said following the other crusaders' line of sight.

“That is awesome!” said Scootaloo enthusiastically before adding, “I don’t even know what is, but it’s awesome.”

“It’s so pretty,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Ah never seen anything like it,” said Apple Bloom.

“I know, impressive right?” asked Loki almost pridefully.

“Then why you hate cutie marks, mister?” asked Apple Bloom.

“I don’t hate cutie marks, I just don’t like the name ‘cutie mark’ because in my opinion, it’s too childish,” answered Loki.

“But that's what they are called,” said Sweetie Belle raising her hoof like a student in a class.

“Have you thought that maybe they were called something else before being called ‘cutie marks’?” asked Loki.

“So you know cutie marks before they were called cutie marks?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Wow, you are old,” said Scootaloo.

“Scootaloo! Now, look who is being rude,” pointed out Apple Bloom.

“Indeed, it’s quite a conundrum,” said Loki to Sweetie Belle not paying attention to Scootaloo’s and Apple Bloom’s remarks.

“A conu- what?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Conundrum: a problem that is difficult to deal with or a question that is a trick, often involving a humorous use of words that have two meanings,” said Sweetie Belle causing the other two to look at her.

“What? Rarity was busy, I was bored and there was a dictionary nearby,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Weird,” said the two crusaders at the same time before facing Loki, who was amused by the foals’ banter so he let them take their time.

“Anyway, what were cutie marks called before being cutie marks?” Asked Scootaloo.

“They were called ‘inner sigils’ and they express the ‘the core of your true self’,” said Loki before adding, “And that’s how they were called and defined back then.”

“That is so cool,” said Scootaloo before asking, “Hey, since you know so much about cutie marks maybe you can help us to get ours.”

“What a great idea Scootaloo,” said Apple Bloom.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS! YAY!” they screamed together before doing a threeway hoofbump.

“I assume that is the name of your little group,” said Loki recovering from the ringing in his ears, all three of them nodded while Apple Bloom said, “Yep” dragging the letter “e” a little, then Loki added, “So what do you need my help with?”

**Inside the library, just as Luna entered**

Luna came upon an unexpected sight, the elements trying to calm down Twilight Sparkle as she paced around the room and mumbled to herself something about a royal visit. Luna was not surprised however, Twilight despite her good intentions tended to worry too much about the details and that was not good for her health.

The other elements noticed Luna’s arrival and were trying to get Twilight attention.

“Twilight,” said Fluttershy very quietly, it was almost inaudible.

“Twilight, dear,” started Rarity before being interrupted.

*groan* “EGGHEAD!” Rainbow shouted.

“What?!!” said Twilight.

“Hiiii, Princess Luna,” said Pinkie waving her right foreleg.

“Princess. I’m so sorry. I didn’t get the chance to organize the town for your visit I know it’s bad just let me exp-” started Twilight but was silenced by Luna raising her a hoof.

“Didn’t my sister tell you that this is just a casual visit? We are friends, there is no need to organize a welcoming party every time we come to Ponyville,” said Luna as Pinkie looked a little sad at the news so Luna added, “But we can still party from time to time,” and that caused Pinkie to brighten again and she kept jumping in the same spot after she heard that.

“See I told you, darling, you are overreacting,” this caused AJ and Rainbow to look at Rarity, The Drama Queen, “What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” said the two rivals, a little too quickly for Rarity’s taste.

“Howdy princess, Twilight mentioned something about another pony visiting,” said Applejack.

“Oh, does this means that your shapeshifting alien grandma is here? Because that would be super awesome,” said Rainbow.

“Rainbow!” said AJ, Rarity and Twilight at the same time.

“This is not the proper way to address to our guest,” said Rarity.

“Ah reckon that’s no way to talk about family especially the princess’,” said Applejack.

“They are right Rainbow, even if it is a somewhat accurate description of her extraterrestrial relative,” said Twilight, now they looked at her, so she added, “What? It was a rude but not inaccurate description.”

“See, even the egghead agrees,” said Rainbow smugly.

“Rainbow Dash is right, and yes, my grandfather is here for a visit,” said Luna to the elements.

“‘Grandfather’? Pardon me princess, but you gave us the impression that it was your grandmother that was coming not your grandfather,” said Rarity.

“Indeed you are right Lady Rarity we are just using the proper pronoun for his current gender,” said Luna.

“Say what now?” asked AJ and Rainbow.

“It means that she is using the pronoun that matches the current gender of her relative,” said Twilight but AJ and RD still looked confused causing her to facehoof.

“Use ‘he’ when it’s a stallion and use ‘she’ when it’s a mare,” Rarity simplified.

“Oh,” said AJ and RD.

“Why didn’t you say so?” asked Applejack.

“It is to be expected since our guest is a shapeshifter, so the use of the proper pronoun is going to be difficult,” said Rarity to the pair of rivals then asked Luna, “I am correct in assuming he is a stallion at the moment?”

“Yes you are,” said Luna.

For the next few minutes, she gave an abridged version of all the information that Loki imparted on her and her sister.

“That’s so fascinating,” said Twilight as she was writing the information on a notebook that she got from… somewhere.

“So cool, I can’t wait to meet an alien,” said Rainbow, Sleipnir didn't count as she barely had a conversation with him, she then added, “Not only an alien, alien god, that so cool.”

“Do you think he has any pets, it sounds lovely to meet little critters from other worlds,” said Fluttershy enthusiastically, to her, her voice almost reached the volume of an average pony.

“To witness the glamour of royalty from a distant land, or in this case world, it is such a unique opportunity,” said Rarity giddy with excitement.

“I hope he likes parties,” said Pinkie as she kept jumping on the same spot.

“I hope he likes apples,” said AJ, everypony looked at her and she said, “What?”

“From what he told me Asgardians tend to drink a lot of mead,” commented Luna.

“Mead?” asked Applejack.

“A type of alcoholic drink made from honey,” explained Luna before adding, "Let us invite him in then, he must be bored out there.”

“Well, I hope he likes hard cider them,” said AJ to herself.

“Grandfather you can come in now,” said Luna as she exited the library.

As Luna got outside she noticed that her grandfather wasn’t there anymore, she looked at the surrounding area and couldn’t find him.

“We just lost my grandfather!” Luna said to herself in a worried tone and slipping into the “royal we”.


	13. Obstacles

“We are such a terrible granddaughter, first day out with our grandfather and we lost him,” said Luna still using the “royal we” while looking at the surrounding.

“Calm down there princess, Ah sure it was just the curiosity getting the better of him and he went to see the rest of the town,” said AJ both to the princess and herself, but it was clear that it was a wild guess.

“Do you really believe that?” asked Luna to Applejack with the Element of Honesty looking anywhere but toward her was all the answer Luna needed. She didn’t lie, she just stated a possibility.

“It can’t be that bad, can it?” asked Fluttershy using her normal, to her, voice.

Luna took a deep breath to calm herself.

“That’s the problem, I don’t know,” said Luna to Fluttershy before explaining, “He is too unpredictable. He could be just enjoying the scenery or he could be planning to conquer the world.”

“Darling, aren’t you being a bit overdramatic?” asked Rarity only for the other elements to look at her, so she asked “What?”

“Maybe he was just stretching his wings, found a nice and comfortable cloud and decided to take a nap,” suggested Rainbow before adding, “That's what I would do if I had to wait for too long.”

“Or maybe somepony came by, saw an alicorn and asked for help in getting their cutie marks,” suggested Pinkie.

“Pinkie, how could you possibly know that?” asked Twilight.

“There are small hoofprints on the ground here,” said Pinkie in a logical manner which surprised the other as they expected something silly in response, then Pinkie said, “Also the author wrote in the last chapter,” nevermind here was Pinkie being Pinkie.

“Are you saying that the CMC came by and asked for help in getting their cutie marks, is that what you are saying?” asked Applejack.

“Well duh, what else I would be saying when I said that?” asked Pinkie to AJ think that her question was stupid because the answer was obvious.

“Sweetie Belle, when I get my hooves on her she is grounded,” said Rarity to herself.

“I can say the same for Apple Bloom,” said AJ agreeing with Rarity.

“Surely it isn’t that bad, I mean it’s the CMC we are talking about,” said Twilight to herself before chastising herself, “Of course it's that bad, it’s the CMC we talking about.”

“This trio of fillies can’t be as bad as you make them out to be and even if they are as you said our grandfather will probably find their mayhem amusing more than anything else,” said Luna.

The thought of an alicorn older than the princesses either not stopping or helping the CMC in their “crusade” for their cutie marks is quite frightening, almost Discord level frightening, so much so that it sent shivers down their spines, even Luna felt a small shiver at that idea.

“We need to find them quickly,” said Rainbow, surprisingly.

All of them went to different locations to make the search quicker.

**With Loki and the CMC**

The trio managed to delay their quest for their cutie marks in favor of giving Loki a tour of the little town named Ponyville, a tour that didn’t last much because of the small town’s size.

“And that is the Ponyville’s bakery, Sugarcube Corner, and that almost concludes our tour, the only places left are Sweet Apple Acres and the school,” said Sweetie Belle for the other two CMC and Loki to hear.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were almost bored having to visit the places they already knew, but the fact they are showing their little town to an alicorn was what keeps them focused, that and the promise that he would help them get their cutie marks, on the way to the school, they started a conversation.

“So Mr Loki, what we should do about Diamond Tiara?” asked Scootaloo.

“In my experience, you either stand up to your bullies or make them ignore you,” said Loki.

“How did you do that?” asked Apple Bloom.

“That was the reason I started to learn seidr, magic, which made things both worse and better,” said Loki.

“How could it be worse and better?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“On Asgard, where I’m from, seidr is considered an art only for females and males are expected to be warriors, for me to learn seidr in the eyes of most bullies I had reached the point where I was not even worthy of their attention, as for the ones that didn’t ignore me, well lets just said that is how I earned the moniker ‘Trickster’,” said Loki.

“Are you saying that mares can’t be warriors?” asked Scootaloo with an almost accusing tone in her voice.

“Not at all, there are many songs and tales of shieldmaidens from the past that are inspirations to young warriors regardless of gender,” said Loki before asking, “Do you remember what I told you about my brother, Thor?”

“Is he the mean one?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“No, that’s Tyr,” said Loki.

“Is he the really tall one?” asked Scootaloo.

“No, that’s Vidar,” said Loki.

“Is he the one that smashes things with his hammer?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Yes that one, on his group of friends is a shieldmaiden named Sif and she is a great warrior, but I think the only reason she became one in the first place was to get closer to my brother. That group and its adventures were one of the reasons I have some recognition despite my reputation,” said Loki.

“Why is that?” asked Scootaloo.

“Unlike the shieldmaidens, there is a very strong social and cultural stigma against males that learn seidr,” said Loki.

“But that’s terrible...” “...and not fair,” “Yeah!” said Sweetie Belle before having her phrase finished by Apple Bloom and with Scootaloo agreeing with them.

“Just one question, what is a stigma?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Stigma: a strong feeling of disapproval that most ponies in a society have about something, especially when this is unfair,” said Sweetie Belle and the other two are looking at her again, “What?” she asked.

“How many times did you read that dictionary?” asked Scootaloo.

“I lost count,” she mumbled to herself, but it was loud enough for the other crusaders to hear.

“Sweetie Belle there is no shame in letting others know about the knowledge you have, besides you never know when it will be useful,” said Loki.

“Thanks,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Good, because we arrived,” said Scootaloo before announcing, “And that is our school where we learn about new and exciting things and sometimes boring things too.”

“And that is mah family orchard, Sweet Apple Acres, we grow the best apples in Equestria,” said Apple Bloom proudly while pointing at the orchard in question.

“And that concludes our tour, so did you like it?” asked the little unicorn before looking at him expectantly, waiting for his opinion.

“I like, it’s qui-” whatever Loki was going to say was interrupted by another voice.

“Well, if it isn’t the blank flanks, what are you doing here?” asked Diamond Tiara closely followed by Silver Spoon.

Diamond Tiara is an earth pony filly with a pale magenta coat, pale violet mane/tail with white streaks and cornflower blue eyes.

Silver Spoon is an earth pony filly with a gray coat, two shaded light gray mane/tail and violet eyes.

“Hi Diamond Tiara, we are just showing Ponyville to a new friend,” said Sweetie Belle.

“And where is this ‘new friend’ of yours? Or maybe he is like you cutie marks, inexistent,” said Diamond Tiara.

This confused the CMC, so they looked at Loki and he was still there, how could they not see him?

“I put a spell on the area, only you three can see and hear me, for now. I want to see how you deal with her,” said Loki to the CMC.

They just nodded, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were too distracted doing their “Bump, bump, sugar lump, rump!” to noticed this exchange.

“Well, just because he is not here, that doesn’t mean he isn’t real,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah, he is like, super cool and probably just looking around,” said Scootaloo.

“Besides, why does it matter to you anyway?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Tsk, obviously it doesn’t, why should I care about a group of blank flanks?” asked Diamond Tiara.

“And yet you go out of your way to bully them, quite a paradox isn’t it?” asked Loki, having walked stealthily around the fillies, now standing behind Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon with the spell lifted.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon looked behind them only to see a pony as tall as Princess Celestia.

“I would appreciate if you stopped bullying my new friends, they have been kind enough to give me a tour of this lovely town,” said Loki as he walked toward the CMC, showing his folded wings.

“An alicorn? How is this possible?” asked Diamond Tiara, but before any answer could be given a stallion’s voice called, coming from the school.

“Diamond Tiara, let’s go we have to talk about…” said Filthy Rich, the father of Diamond Tiara, his voice trailed off when he saw Loki, an equally surprised Cheerilee was following him.

Filthy Rich is an earth pony stallion with a light brown coat, very dark gray mane/tail and azure eyes.

Cheerilee is an earth pony mare with a cerise colored coat, two shaded pink mane/tail and green eyes.

Filthy Rich and Cheerilee bowed to Loki as soon as they saw him.

“Your Highness, we heard rumors that you are visiting Ponyville, but…,” said Filthy Rich.

“Indeed I am, this group of fillies was kind enough to give me a tour of the town,” said Loki before adding, “You can rise.”

“Are you liking the town so far, Your Highness?” asked Cheerilee.

“So far yes, now if you excuse me the Crusaders have a tour to finish,” said Loki.

“Of course Your Highness,” said Cheerilee before facing the crusaders and say, “I am very proud of you three, don’t keep His Highness waiting.”

“Yes Ms Cheerilee,” said the three CMC at the same time before running in the direction of the farm, only to stop and wait for Loki.

“Are you the father of these two?” asked Loki while pointing to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon with his right wing.

“Only of little Tiara here,” said Filthy Rich.

“Did you know that they have been bullying ponies without a cutie mark in and out of the school?” asked Loki.

“That is what I have come to discuss with their teacher, Ms Cheerilee over here,” said Mr Rich before looking at his daughter and her friend, “When we get home you are grounded young lady and I will inform your parents of this, Silver Spoon.”

Hearing that the appropriate disciplinary action would be taken, Loki turned and walked toward the crusades, which were waiting for him.

“Now, I would love to see your family’s farm,” said Loki to Apple Bloom.

“This way,” said Apple Bloom.

**Ponyville, Town Square in front of the Town Hall, two hours later**

The mane six and Luna searched all over the town and couldn’t find them.

“It seems I have no other option besides contacting our sister,” said Luna once again using the “royal we”.

“No! They have to be somewhere we just need to search harder,” said Twilight not wanting to disappoint her mentor.

“Face it, egghead, we looked everywhere in town, we need help,” said Rainbow.

“And a bath, all this search is making me sweat,” said Rarity.

“I am sure there is someplace we are forgetting,” said Fluttershy.

“Has anypony checked the clubhouse?” asked Pinkie.

Everypony facehoofed, they check everywhere but the place where the CMC spend most of their time planning their crusades.

“I’m going ahead, meet you there,” said Rainbow before flying off.

**Ten minutes later in the clubhouse a.k.a. CMC HQ**

The group reached the clubhouse and were looking for Rainbow. They spotted her on a nearby hill with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, so the group approached.

“Apple Bloom, you’re in big trouble missy,” said Applejack to her sister.

“You as well, Sweetie Belle,” said Rarity.

“What we did to get in trouble for? We just asked for help from an adult,” said Apple Bloom.

“Yeah, and the adult just happen to be an alicorn,” said Sweetie Belle.

“And we just gave him a tour around Ponyville,” said Apple Bloom.

“They got you there,” said Pinkie.

“Pinkie, don’t encourage them,” said Rarity but Pinkie had a point, all the CMC did was ask for help, that was not something to be grounded for.

“Nevermind that, where is my grandfather?” asked Luna.

Rainbow just pointed up, she seemed shocked about something, the group followed her line of sight and saw a green alicorn flying in a simple pattern, very easy to follow.

They, however, became equally shocked, not at the alicorn flying but at the orange pegasus filly following him in the air.

Scootaloo was flying.


	14. Knowledge

Rainbow Dash was shocked, she knew how much Scoots wanted to fly and the filly was approaching the age where it would be more difficult to learn it, to Rainbow there always was the possibility that she would be a flightless pegasus.

If you want an example of a pegasus who learned how to fly too late in life, there was one here in Ponyville, Ditzy Doo like Fluttershy and Rainbow she was born and raised in Cloudsdale, but moved to Ponyville just like Fluttershy. Ditzy was bullied both for her lack of flight and her crossed eyes, they always called her Derpy, unlike what others think her propensity for accidents in the air comes from the fact that she concentrated too much on her flight and didn't notice her surroundings.

Pegasi need to learn how to fly early so it could become second nature to keep themselves in the air and be aware of their surroundings, if Scoots learn how to fly too late she would have to spend a great deal of concentration on keeping herself in the air and not develop the observational skill need for high risk maneuvers just like Ditzy, her depth perception problem notwithstanding.

To see Scootaloo flying –like a complete novice but flying nonetheless– was a huge relief for Rainbow, she and her friends only recovered from their shock when Luna called for her grandfather and the grounded crusaders called for Scoots.

Loki noticed Luna was calling for him and proceeded to land on the hill, Scootaloo followed him but had problems landing, luckily Loki used his wing to catch Scootaloo. The filly giggled as she slid on Loki’s wing onto the ground.

“That was awesome we have to do that agai-,” started Scootaloo only to be interrupted by Rainbow scooping her up and spinning her around.

“Scoots! You were flying!” said Rainbow excitedly.

“Rainbow Dash! Did you see that? I was flying!” said Scootaloo being held up by Rainbow.

Loki just looked at them and let them get the excitement out of their system, curiously when he looked at the rainbow colored pony he felt his seidr respond slightly.

“It was very noble of you to help that pegasus filly fly, grandfather,” said Luna.

“Indeed it was, but why hasn’t her problem been fixed?” asked Loki.

“Problem? What problem?” asked Rainbow.

“The problem that kept that filly from flying, and who are you exactly?” asked Loki to Rainbow.

“Grandfather this is Rainbow Dash one of the Elements of Harmony and also a surrogate older sister to the filly Scootaloo,” said Luna.

“I’m correct in assuming that the others are also part of the Elements of Harmony?” asked Loki.

“Indeed you are, this is Lady Rarity the older sister of the filly Sweetie Belle,” said Luna motioning to Rarity.

“I am honored in finally meet you, your highness,” said Rarity with Sweetie Belle rolling her eyes at her sister response.

“As I am,” answered Loki.

“This is Applejack the owner and farmer of this land also the sister of the filly Apple Bloom,” said Luna motioning to AJ.

“Rowdy, Ah reckon you had quite an adventure with our little sisters over here,” said Applejack.

“No not really, when I said it was my first visit in Ponyville they decided to give me a tour before trying one of their plans,” answered Loki.

“This is the caretaker and healer of creatures of the forest and beyond, Fluttershy,” said Luna pointing to an empty spot.

“Is she the one hiding behind that tree,” said Loki point to a tree with his right wing, only to hear a *eep* coming from behind it.

“Yes she is very shy, so don’t mind if she tries to hide,” said Luna and Loki nodded.

“This is Pinkie Pie a party planner and baker,” said Luna once again pointing at an empty spot.

Following his instincts, Loki turned around and caught a pink pony with his seidr, summoned spectral swords and pointed them at the would-be attacker.

“Ooh, shiny and pointy,” said Pinkie Pie before flailing her legs as she floated above the ground and giggled to herself while making “space noises”.

Loki banished the swords and looked at the floating pink pony and felt his seidr react like the rainbow one but stronger, he had no doubt on what that meant.

“Pinkie Pie?” asked Loki, just to be sure.

“Hiiiiii,” said Pinkie before Loki let go of her by placing her on the ground.

Pinkie approaches him with an uncharacteristic serious look on her face.

“You are good,” said Pinkie.

“Just instincts,” said Loki.

“Do you like parties,” asked Pinkie.

“Depends on my mood and the occasion,” said Loki.

“Oki Doki Loki,” said Pinkie Pie excitedly.

“That’s my name,” said Loki in amusement.

*Gasp* “Your name is Oki Doki Loki, what are the chances?” asked Pinkie looking at me.

“No just Loki and don’t stare at the author, that’s rude,” said Loki.

*Gasp* “You can see it too?” asked Pinkie for the first time seeing a fellow 4th-Wall-Breaker an–"Ah, that's what's called." Pinkie don't interrupt me, that's rude. "Sorry."

“Of course I can, but we can talk about that later, the introductions aren’t over,” answered Loki without acknowledging my little discussion with Pinkie.

“Oki Doki,” said Pinkie as she bounced in the group’s directions.

“You can proceed, Luna,” said Loki.

“Ok… This is the last member of the elements, my sister’s star pupil, Twilight Sparkle,” said Luna pointing at the last of the group member to be introduced.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Ooooh, I have so many questions,” said Twilight as she took out a quill and notebook.

Loki felt the same response from her as the rainbow one, he intended to speak with them later.

“Ok, but not now egghead," said Rainbow to Twilight before directing her attention to Loki and ask in a worried tone, "You said that there was a problem with Scoots here, what was it?”

“Mr Loki said that my magic wasn’t flowing right, so he fixed that and now I can fly,” said Scootaloo.

“That is an oversimplification, but yes I corrected the flow of seidr in her wings, she will be able to fly from now on and her wings will grow thanks to the seidr flowing through them," said Loki to Rainbow before addressing to Scootaloo, "By the way you might feel hungrier than normal, so don’t be afraid to eat more than you usually eat.”

“You are telling me that the only reason she wasn’t able to fly before was that her magic wasn’t flowing right?” asked Rainbow.

“Yes any mage capable of using ‘mage sight’ would be able to see and fix the problem,” said Loki to Rainbow.

“Then why they didn’t do it until now?” asked Rainbow.

“Rainbow, ‘mage sight’ is a very complicated and advanced ability that is hard to not only acquire but to use as well, only the most advanced scholars would try something like that, it isn’t something an average unicorn doctor can do,” explained Twilight.

“Thanks for the explanation egghead,” said Rainbow without her usual sarcasm and truly thankful.

“Rainbow Dash you can let me go now,” said Scootaloo still being held by Rainbow.

“Sorry,” said Rainbow as she released Scoots and she joined the rest of the CMC.

“So we are not in trouble,” said Sweetie Belle innocently.

“No you are not, for now,” said Rarity.

“How about we move somewhere more comfortable?” asked Loki.

**Golden Oak Library, a few minutes later**

Loki looked around the library and in his opinion it was quaint, but he was biased since he saw the Library of the Gods in Omnipotence City, so it was not fair to compare this place with another he knew. Sitting around the table was the Mane Six, the CMC on the side of their sisters, himself, Princess Luna and a dragon hatchling that brought tea for them sitting at Twilight's side.

“Ok I have one thing to say before you start asking questions, it seems that four of you are my descendants,” said Loki before drinking a sip of his tea.

The group broke out in a rush of questions directed at Loki, with them trying to speculate who he was talking about, except Pinkie and Fluttershy, Pinkie was just making random noises to appear that she was in a conversation and Fluttershy just kept looking around trying and failing to not hide.

“It is not that complicated if you live and travel as much as I do meeting your own descendants happens once in awhile,” said Loki before taking another sip of his tea.

“So who are your descendants?” asked the hatchling that introduced himself as Spike when he arrived at the library.

“I bet it’s Rainbow Dash, that’s why she is so awesome,” said Scootaloo.

“You are right on that one, Rainbow Dash is one of my descendants,” said Loki to Scootaloo.

“No way, I’m even more awesome than I thought,” said Rainbow.

“Just don’t let it get to your head it doesn't make much of a difference in the end,” said Loki to Rainbow.

“I’m curious, how is she related to us?” asked Luna.

“If what I’m seeing is right, she is from Celestia’s bloodline,” said Loki.

“I see,” said Luna calmly while Rarity choked on her tea and Twilight did a spit-take on AJ, luckily for Apple Bloom AJ was between her and Twilight.

“Hey!” said AJ.

“You mean *cough* to tell me that *cough* Rainbow Dash, our Rainbow Dash is not only related to Princess Celestia but that she is from her direct bloodline. How?!” asked Rarity to shocked to care about her manner at the moment.

“Well, I and my sister are pretty open when it comes to relationships, needless to say, we had many lovers and a few foals, but all of them were normal ponies, a bit stronger than average but normal ponies. They lived their lives and had children and they lived their lives as well, so me and my sister having descendants somewhere on Equestria it isn’t all that surprising,” said Luna.

“Why didn’t you tell us before?” asked Twilight after drying AJ with her magic.

“We didn’t know, we lost track of our descendants during Discord’s reign, while we are sad to lose the last connections we had with our foals it was time for us to move on,” said Luna.

“It seems both of you take after me after all,” said Loki to Luna as she blushed remembering her teenage years.

“And the other three?” asked Pinkie.

“It’s you, Twilight and that hatchling, Spike,” listed Loki to Pinkie Pie.

“How are we related,” asked Spike as Twilight was still trying to come to terms with what she learned.

“In the case of Pinkie, she is related by magic, one of her ancestors received magic either from me or one of my descendants but my magic is unusually strong on her and that may have caused her to develop strange abilities,” said Loki.

“Wait, are you saying that all of Pinkie's eccentricities can be explained by the fact that she inherited your magic?” said Twilight.

“Indeed,” said Loki before taking another sip of his tea.

“That actually explains a lot,” said Twilight to herself.

“As for your family connection to me, you are of both Celestia and Luna’s bloodline, the convergence of two of my bloodlines gave you great potential as did your son,” said Loki.

“Son? I don’t have a son,” said Twilight.

“Them who is the hatchling beside you?” asked Loki.

“Spike here, is my assistant,” said Twilight.

“But he has your seidr flowing through him,” said Loki expressing his confusion.

“Well, I hatched him from an egg with my magic,” said Twilight.

“If you hatched him by giving him life with your seidr them how are you not his mother?” asked Loki to Twilight who didn’t have an answer to that logic. Seeing her conflict he added, “Regardless of who are his birth parents he is alive because he has your seidr flowing in his veins so he is for all intents and purposes your son.”

Twilight looked at Spike as both of them processed this new information.

“Twilight I-,” started Spike.

“Sh, we will talk about this later, ok?” asked Twilight and Spike nodded.

“So, anypony has a question for me?” asked Loki.

“I got one, what is your original form like?” asked Pinkie raising and waving her hooves.

“My Æsir form? It’s bipedal, has two arms, two hands with five fingers, light peach colored furless skin, black fur on top of my head called hair and no tail,” said Loki.

“Hey doesn’t that sound like...” started Applejack.

“...those ‘hoomans’ that Lyra always talks about?” Rainbow finished the phrase.

“It’s ‘humans’ and yes Asgardians and Midgardians or humans are very similar, it is to be expected considering that both races are part of the Nine Realms and related to Gaea,” said Loki.

“Wait, humans aren’t real, they are just legends,” said Twilight.

“Every legend has a bit of truth in them, it has to start somewhere, Statera –this realm– and Midgard or Earth –the human realm– had a powerful connection in a distant past, but this connection is almost nonexistent nowadays. Just as you have legends of humans here, on Midgard there are legends of unicorns and pegasi,” said Loki.

Before anypony could answer a thud was heard near the front door, standing there in the doorway of the public library with a mouth open in surprise and a book on the floor was an earth pony mare with light blue eyes, beige coat, pink and dark blue mane.

But the one that drew their attention was the pony next to her, the smiling green unicorn that was accompanying her.

Lyra Heartstrings just heard that humans were real.


	15. Conversation

“Hello Twilight,” said Lyra in an almost sing-song voice.

“Hello Lyra, how are the rest of the girls in Canterlot?” asked Twilight.

“Lemon Hearts, Minuette and Twinkleshine are fine, we still hang out when we can, either here in Ponyville or in Canterlot, we haven’t been able to talk with Moon Dancer though,” said Lyra.

“Wait, wait, you know Lyra, the human obsessed Lyra?” asked Rainbow.

“I’m not  **that**  obsessed and yes we know each other from the School for Gifted Unicorns,” said Lyra hearing Rainbow’s comment.

“Yeah, I met her when we were fillies and I was there when she presented her article about the possible existence of humans before recorded history, but archeological evidence was never found, so humankind's existence was a possibility at best and a fairytale at worst,” said Twilight thinking about how she treated her friends in Canterlot and how she moved to Ponyville without telling them, maybe she will visit them later.

“Never mind that, I heard His Highness here say that humans are real and from another world, right?” asked Lyra.

“Indeed, Ms Lyra?,” started Loki only to realize that he only heard her name from others and he was not sure of how to call her.

“Yes, I’m Lyra Heartstrings and this one here is my friend and roommate Bon-Bon,” said Lyra introducing herself and her friend.

“It's an honor to meet you, Your Highness,” said Bon-Bon.

“Come in and sit with us, Spike go get some more tea and two more cups, I’m going to get two more chairs,” said Twilight and Spike nodded.

A few minutes later Lyra and Bon-Bon now sitting on two new chairs with their own cups of tea.

“Your tea is still the best, Spike,” said Lyra.

“Thanks,” said Spike.

“So what is that about humans being real?” asked Lyra.

“Indeed, humans are from the world of Midgard and in the ancient past visited Statera before retreating back to their world as the connection with this world was weakened,” said Loki.

“Statera?” asked Bon-Bon, still not believing that Lyra was right.

“An ancient name for this world,” clarified Luna.

“I still can’t believe it’s true,” said Bon-Bon.

“Don’t be like that Bon-Bon, it’s finally happening, the confirmation that humans are real, now my theories are more than just theories, me and the other scholars who theorised about humans and aliens are not so crazy now, take that board of directors,” said Lyra excitedly while punching the air like a certain rainbow colored pegasus.

Soon all of them were involved in idle conversations and they learned much about Lyra. They learned that she had the reputation of being obsessed with proving that humans are real but that was just an exaggeration, while she was in favor of more radical theories she was also a musician, albeit not as famous as Vinyl Scratch or Octavia Melody, also residents of Ponyville.

The group also learned that Bon-Bon or Sweetie Drops, with Sweetie Belle commenting that both of them were “Sweetie”, was a former secret agent, Princess Luna confirmed the stories but told them to keep them a secret especially the CMC, Pinkie and Rainbow, after Loki commented that she was too well trained to be just an average citizen. In the end, all of them Pinkie Promised to keep it a secret and they learned about Twilight's friends from school that she didn't talk much about.

They also learned about the World Tree, the Nine Realms and many other alien races, Twilight already had a pile of notebooks filled with information besides her, they asked many questions about the universe, he even gave an explanation on his and Pinkie's 4th Wall-Breaking powers, the explanation flew over their heads, only Twilight and Lyra understood most of it.

It was something about Pinkie interacting with another “layer” of reality, it seemed too farfetched to be true but it was the most scientific explanation about Pinkie that Twilight had and she could neither prove nor disprove, plus it was coming from an older and far more knowledgeable alien visitor who happened to be the grandparent of the princesses, so she accepted his explanation.

Then Luna felt her connection with the moon telling her what time it was.

“Grandfather it’s getting late we better get back,” said Luna doing a quick spell to call the guards from whatever they are doing in the town.

“Well it seems it’s time to go then,” said Loki getting up and going outside to wait for the guards with the chariot.

“You are going to visit again right?” asked Scootaloo flying a little clumsily to be at eye level with Loki.

“Of course there are a few things in this town that I want to check but I’m in no hurry so it can be done any other day,” said Loki.

“So you will visit again?” asked Apple Bloom as she and Sweetie Belle approached him as well.

“Maybe in a few days,” said Loki.

“I can’t wait for it so we can have adventures and you can help us get our cutie marks,” said Sweetie Belle before all three CMC got closer and did their “battle cry”.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!! YAY!!” said the three of them as they did a hoofbump.

At that moment the chariot arrived, the Royals got on as they said their farewells before taking off.

“You seem to get along with the CMC,” said Luna as they made their way to Canterlot.

“They remind me of happier days,” said Loki in a somber tone as he took notice of the dark presence lurking in the abandoned castle in the forest that they passed over.

“At least we had a better time than Celestia, who was stuck on the court all day,” said Luna as she giggled at her sister’s misfortune.

“Indeed,” said Loki as he reflected on another day that had gone by.

**Midgard a.k.a. Earth, New York, Avengers’ Tower, the morning of the next day**

Here in the HQ of the group known as the Avengers we find Thor on the living room, after Lady Sif and the Warriors Three delivered the news that Loki was an Elder of the Universe both King Laufey and Allfather Odin were at a loss on what to do. They decided not to dwell on what did not concern the situation at hand, so negotiations resumed and in the end, Jotunheim would be allowed to open its borders again in exchange for the custody of the dökkálfar, the dark elves, and their king, Malekith.

Malekith and his followers were sentenced to be imprisoned in the cores of asteroids and hurled through the void of outer space until Ragnarok. After Malekith’s trial was over Thor came to Midgard both to tell his friends what was going on and to get away from Asgard for a while, he had a lot to think about. Tony didn’t even question him when he came yesterday in the middle of the night asking for a bed.

Thor was brought back to reality by a plate of food being put on the table in front of him.

“So big guy, it seems you have a lot on your mind,” said Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America as he served his and Thor’s breakfast.

“You have no idea Captain, much has happened and there are many news to share,” said Thor.

“About what? For example,” asked Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye sitting on the couch watching TV.

“First is the sentence of Loki,” said Thor and that got the attention of the archer.

“You got my attention,” said Clint turning off the TV and sitting on one of the free chairs after grabbing a piece of toast.

Thor ate his breakfast, Midgardian food is so different that it always managed to surprise him.

“Loki was banished from Asgard and is forbidden to return until he learns his lesson,” said Thor after he finished his breakfast, it wasn’t enough to satisfy him, but as Steve explained breakfast was to get you up and running for the day.

“So after everything he did on Earth that’s his sentence, I expected more,” said Clint clearly disappointed and somewhat angry.

“It may not seem much but we don’t know how Asgardians handle their crimes, so we better leave this to him, Clint,” said Steve to Clint as he brought a mug of juice for Thor.

“Thank you, my friend,” said Thor to Steve.

“No problem big guy, I know it’s not easy to get up on the next day when your world comes crashing down on the day before,” said Steve remembering the day after his unfreezing, sometimes it was hard to convince himself that this wasn’t a dream, been in a world so different.

“Still think he got off easy,” said Clint.

“To you, he may have been just an enemy commander, but to me, he is still my brother, who I spent millennia fighting alongside with on countless battles and adventures,” said Thor.

“So any leads on his attack on New York?” asked Steve trying to change the subject.

“Yes Captain, according to Heimdall my brother was being controlled when he attacked Midgard,” said Thor.

“Back up there. Are you telling me that Loki was under mind control when he attacked Earth, that he was being controlled just like I was?” asked Clint in disbelief, to him Loki was the puppetmaster and the one that forced him and many others to do thing against their will, now he found out that even Loki might have been a victim in all of this.

“Indeed I am, we still don’t know who was controlling him, but whoever it was it’s strong enough to use the Mind Gem without its protective casing and the list of beings capable of using an Infinity Gem directly in all known universe is very small,” said Thor.

“By Infinity Gem you mean that blue thing on Loki’s scepter, right?” asked Steve.

“No my friend that is just the protective casing, the Gem is at its core,” said Thor.

An awkward silence followed Thor’s revelation and was interrupted by the clanking of metal, few pieces of the Iron Man’s armor flying and hitting the floor.

“No need to panic, it was just a glitch, I can fix that,” said Tony Stark as he entered on the living room before saying, “Jeez, why the tense atmosphere?”

“Thor was telling what happened to Loki,” said Clint.

“So what was the fate of dark and gloomy. Life sentence, exec-” started Tony but was interrupted by Steve.

“Banishment,” said Steve before Stark could say something he shouldn’t.

“Really, to where? His room? There is something fishy about this sentence. Are you sure your dad didn’t go soft on him?” asked Tony to Thor.

“No Man of Iron, my father didn’t ‘go soft on him’ and even if he did, my brother was banished from Asgard, the sentence of the Allfather is to be carried out no matter what,” said Thor.

“Sorry to hear about that, man,” said Tony.

At that moment Bruce Banner came in to get his breakfast but stopped in the doorway as he saw Thor. Since Bruce was in the lab with soundproof walls last night so he didn’t hear the Bifrost.

“Since when is Thor on Earth?” asked Bruce.

“Since last night,” said Natasha, also known as Black Widow, on the other side of the kitchen counter eating cereal.

“Jesus!! Since when are you here woman?!” asked, more like shouted, Tony in surprise.

“She is here since just after you arrived, Tony,” said Thor noticing her arrival with his sharper senses.

“Thor here was about to tell what happened to Loki,” said Clint.

“Really?” asked Bruce as he sat on a chair to hear the rest of the story.

“As I was saying Loki was banished from Asgard to Sattheim, a small realm not too far from Midgard,” said Thor.

“And why was he banished to this realm?” asked Bruce not surprised by the fact that other dimensions besides the nine described by Thor existed, he heard about the Negative Zone being explored by Reed Richards and his team, the Fantastic Four.

“He was banished there because the rulers of that realm are his granddaughters,” said Thor and at that moment Tony choked while drinking his protein shake.

*cough**cough*”Hold it! You are telling me that your maniac of a brother has kids and his kids have kids! We are doomed,” said Tony.

“While my nephews and nieces are not the most exemplary sentient beings they are powerful and good on what they do, we never had much of a familial relationship, I barely know them,” said Thor.

“How many are we talking about?” asked Natasha.

“A few dozens I think, I could never be sure,” said Thor.

The thought of dozens of mini versions of Loki running around sent shivers down the spine of the other Avengers.

“So who are these granddaughters?” asked Steve.

“Dagrsol and Nottmani? I only discovered their existence after Loki’s trial, apparently, they are Sleipnir’s foals,” said Thor.

“Did he just said ‘foals’?” asked Natasha.

“I believe he did,” said Clint.

“According to Norse Mythology Loki in the form of a mare gave birth to an eight-legged foal named Sleipnir,” said Bruce and the others, with the exception of Thor, looked at him strangely.

“Wait, are you saying that everything in Norse Mythology is true?” asked Clint.

“No, much of your mythology was distorted with time and mistranslation, most of the facts have been lost,” said Thor.

“A horse, he gave birth to a horse,” Tony repeated to himself.

“That is very weird,” said Steve.

“Not the weirdest thing in Norse Mythology, maybe you should read about it,” suggested Bruce.

Steve took out his notebook of “things to look up later” and put “Norse mythology” on the top of the list.

“So he also has a giant snake, a giant wolf and a half zombie for children?” asked Tony having recovered from his shock.

“Jormungandr, Fenrir and Hela? They never got along with any Asgardians because of that, Fenrir and Jormungandr especially, Hela on the other hand just stopped caring, Loki never forgave Odin for that but at least he can still visit his children,” said Thor in a somber tone.

“I really need to look up this ‘Norse mythology’,” said Steven to himself.

“And that isn’t the worst part, yesterday I found out that Loki is both an Elder of the Universe and a Time Traveler,” said Thor.

Seeing that his friends were confused, Thor explained to them what he knew.


	16. Children

**Asgard, while Thor was having breakfast**

Queen Frigga was informed of Loki’s status, she was both proud and terrified, proud of her little boy’s achievements and terrified because in order to be an Elder one had to live through countless hardships that can take a toll on one’s sanity, even in the mind of a god. Using her seidr Frigga teleported herself to the entrance of Asgard to see a certain gatekeeper.

“Greetings My Queen,” said Heimdall without turning to greet her.

“Greetings Heimdall,” said Frigga as she stood beside Heimdall and looked at the cosmos.

“You have questions,” said Heimdall simply.

“Indeed, I’m thinking which one to ask first,” said Frigga as Heimdall waited.

“Do you know when this version of my son first appeared?” asked Frigga.

“I’m not sure, but I believe it was during the Chitauri invasion just after he was confronted by the green giant that they call Hulk,” said Heimdall.

The queen just accepted the answer, Heimdall was after all known to never lie or bend the truth, all gods regardless of pantheon always took Heimdall’s words seriously.

“How is he faring in that realm?” asked the All-Mother.

“He sees this banishment as a vacation or a break, his granddaughters are opening up to him especially the younger one who fell prey to the Nightmare and was reformed, he also helped a group of children in dealing with their bullies,” said Heimdall.

This would be wonderful news normally, but she didn't know this new Loki. Maybe he was being true to himself, but only time would tell.

“Thank you Heimdall,” said Frigga before she teleported back to the palace leaving the gatekeeper to do his job.

**Equestria, Canterlot Palace, library two days later**

Loki finished reading the history of Equestria, she was a little disappointed but who she was to judge, there were worlds with histories even more boring and disappointing than Equestria, well she couldn't expect epic tales of battles from a mostly peaceful world. Luna was resting and Celestia was finishing her paperwork for the day in her school, that was a surprising and yet delightful fact, Celestia was a teacher of seidr in a school that she founded.

“I’m ready, grandmother, let's just inform the guards and summon my chariot,” said Celestia as she arrived at the library.

“There is no need to summon the chariot, we can either fly or teleport there, actually we better teleport I’m itching to use some seidr it’s been awhile since I did some magic,” said Loki.

“Ok, just let me inform the guards,” said Celestia leaving the library as she was accompanied by Loki.

After informing the nearby guards Loki created a portal right then and there and jumped through, Celestia just shrugged and jumped as well.

**Ponyville**

A green portal opened near a napping Rainbow Dash, covering her face was a book, her new obsession Daring Do, floating near her cloud was a tortoise in a contraption that gave the reptile the ability to fly. It was this sight that greeted Loki, she got an idea, so she whispered her plan to Celestia who just arrived, she giggled at the idea and nodded, so Loki got in position.

Rainbow felt wonderful, it was summer but she felt something cool wrapping around her and the soft feeling of fur against her coat just made her pillow more comfortable. Unfortunately, she couldn't enjoy this feeling because somepony was trying to get her attention.

“Rainbow,” called out a familiar voice.

“Five more minutes,” mumbled Rainbow as she snuggled against her body pillow, it was neither too warm nor too cold, it was in the right temperature to cool her down while she rested on the cloud.

“Rainbow Dash, time to wake up,” said Celestia.

“Not now, princess,” said Rainbow.

…

“Princess!!” said Rainbow as she tried to get up only to discover that she was being hugged by a pair of big blue wings, they were strangely cool and refreshing on this particularly hot day. She looked behind her she saw a teal colored alicorn mare, only when she noticed the crown that she deduced the identity of the alicorn, it was Loki.

“Rainbow I knew you liked anything ‘20% cooler’ as Twilight once described in her letters, but I never knew you had a thing for older mares,” said Celestia in a coy tone, trying not to giggle. Thankfully she had centuries of experience in politics.

“Nononono, this is not what it looks like,” said Rainbow.

“Yes Rainbow that's the spot,” said Loki seemingly in her sleep as she moaned, which caused Rainbow to blush enough for a hint of red to be visible through her fur.

“Really, to me it seems to be exactly what looks like,” said Celestia.

Rainbow was blushing like never before, this had to be a nightmare. There was no way the princess would catch her on cloud sleeping with her grandmother, her totally hot grandmother. Then she was interrupted by the laugh of not only the princess but also the one holding her like a plush toy, after a while she got it.

“Oh, this is a prank, good one princess,” said Rainbow with a look of realization.

“It was grandmother’s idea she even made her body 20% cooler as you are so fond of saying,” said Celestia.

“Ok you can let go of me now your highness,” said Rainbow.

“But I like cuddling with you,” whined Loki doing her best impression of a spoiled child that wanted to keep her toy before she let go of the smaller pony and readjusted her body temperature, which caused her wings to return to their original teal color.

“Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?” asked Rainbow.

“Besides finding a good cuddle buddy,” said Loki only to get a look from Rainbow, she then said, “I was bored and I did promise to visit again.”

“I know the feeling,” said Rainbow.

“Well, I will leave you two to talk. Just call me using that spell,” said Loki as she flew from the cloud they were on.

“So, grandmother, told me are of my bloodline,” said Celestia.

“Yeah, about that..,” start Rainbow.

**With Loki**

Loki was walking when she spotted the CMC on the park playing with other foals, but two of the foals, in particular, caught his attention.

One was a blank flank filly with a gray coat, yellow eyes, blonde mane and tail.

The other is a filly, also a blank flank, with light purple coat and a purple and white mane and tail, but her most noticeable feature were her eyes, they had a spiral pattern.

Loki walked toward them, soon she had the attention of all the foals and adults in the park.

“Hello crusaders,” said Loki.

The Crusaders looked confused for a moment, but then they saw the crown and the cutie mark.

“Mister Loki?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Yes, although it’s Miss Loki, for now,” said Loki to the CMC as the other foals were in awe about the fact that she was an alicorn.

“How is that possible?” asked Scootaloo.

“When you are as old as me you tend to do things just because you feel like doing it,” explained Loki before she added, “ and I feel like being a mare today.”

“That’s weird but...Ok,” said Apple Bloom.

Loki then looked at the other foals and smiled, they smiled back.

“Greetings little ones, I am Loki, who might you be?” asked Loki in a kind and motherly tone.

The foals immediately started to introduce themselves and chat about anything that they could come up with, but not too long after the parents started calling for their children saying that it was time to go and indeed it was almost time for lunch.

“Hey, maybe you could have lunch with us?” said Sweetie Belle as she and the other crusaders gave Loki a pleading look.

“Let me see if Celestia has any plans for lunch first,” said Loki as she used a simple communication spell to open a telepathic connection with her granddaughter.

“ _Celestia do you have any plans for lunch?”_  asked Loki telepathically.

“ _Well my student and her friends invited us to have lunch on a bakery called Sugarcube Corner, it's not too far from the library_ ,” said Celestia.

“ _That sounds lovely, but what about the crusaders?_ ” asked Loki.

“ _Their sisters are about to go out to get the CMC for lunch_ ,” said Celestia.

“ _There is no need to do that since I am here at the park with them, I can take them with me to the bakery_ ,” said Loki.

“ _Wonderful, I will inform my pupil and her friends,_ ” said Celestia as she cut the connection.

While Loki was talking with Celestia the crusader saw a glow on her horn, so they figure that she was using some spell to speak with Princess Celestia, so they started to chat with the foals that were still in the park.

“It seems we will be meeting at Sugarcube Corner for lunch, I remember seeing the place only once, do you know where this bakery is?” asked Loki.

“Yeah, we know the place,” said Scootaloo.

“We can show you where it is, again,” said Apple Bloom.

“Uh, excuse me Ms Loki, but did you say Sugarcube Corner?” asked a certain gray unicorn filly.

“Yes I did, Dinky right?” said Loki and seeing as the face of the filly brighten a little, she got the name right.

“Uh-huh, my mommy told me to meet her at that bakery, my auntie is coming here so we can go there together,” suggest Dinky.

“I see no problem with that and it will be a great opportunity to spend more time with the crusaders here, maybe you can even join them,” said Loki.

*GASP*

The crusaders gasped at Loki’s suggestion and huddle together to discuss this idea.

“Why ain't we thought of inviting other foals from our school to be crusaders before?” asked Apple Bloom.

“I don’t know,” said Scootaloo.

“Imagine all of the things we can try with more friends,” said Sweetie Belle.

While the Crusaders were having their “secret meeting” a yellow earth pony mare with green mane and eyes approached them.

“Auntie Carrot!” said Dinky as she ran and hugged this new pony.

“Hi Dinky, how was your day?” said Carrot Top.

“It was awesome so far and I met a princess,” said Dinky.

“Really?” asked Carrot Top.

“Yeah, she is right over there,” said Dinky pointing to Loki.

When Carrot Top saw Loki she immediately bowed in respect despite her surprise.

“Your Highness, it’s an honor to meet you,” said Carrot without looking.

“There is no need to bow, Dinky was just telling us that we can go to Sugarcube Corner together,” said Loki getting tired of telling ponies not to bow to him.

“Really?” asked Carrot nervously.

“Yeah, and she can meet mommy and auntie Harvest and we can have cake together,” said Dinky excitedly.

“We better get going, let's not keep them waiting,” suggested Loki as she motioned for Carrot to lead the way.

“Of course,” said Carrot as she started to walk toward the Bakery followed by Dinky, who was chatting with the crusaders, and Loki.

It took just a few minutes for them to arrive at Sugarcube Corner, as they entered his eyes fell upon a gray pegasus mare with blonde mane and yellow eyes wearing some kind of uniform waving at them, more specifically at Dinky and Carrot Top, she felt the same when she looked at Dinky and that purple filly in the park.

In a table not far from the pegasus was the elements and Celestia, who already ordered a cake, so Loki approached them.

“I hope it’s not a problem if I invite a few more ponies for this lunch?” asked Loki.

“Of course not grandmother, it's always a pleasure to meet more of my subjects,” said Celestia.

Loki motions for Carrot Top, Dinky, the pegasus mare and another mare similar to Carrot Top to join Loki and the elements.

They just brought their table next to the one they were already using.

“Hey Ditzy,” said Rainbow to her friend and co-worker.

“Hi Rainbow Dash!,” said the gray pegasus mare, now named Ditzy.

“Mommy this is the princess I told you about,” said Dinky to Ditzy.

“Thank you, Your Highness, for looking after my little muffin here,” said Ditzy as she hugged Dinky, who was giggling at her mother.

“Your Highness, this is my twin sister, Golden Harvest,” said Carrot Top as she introduced an earth pony mare with yellow coat, orange mane and green eyes.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness,” said Golden Harvest.

“Likewise, however, there is no need to call me ‘Your Highness’ all the time, just call me ‘Loki’ but if you insist on using a title then call me ‘Lady Loki’, ok?” requested Loki.

“Of course your-, I mean Lady Loki,” said Golden Harvest.

After the introductions were done the group just chatted during lunch, Loki learned that Ditzy had two jobs, one as a mailmare and another as part of the weather team, Ditzy had no problem in delivering letters so long she didn't have to make long trips outside of Ponyville, on the weather team she mostly was just an assistant, she for some reason had a propensity to cause accidents especially if she was near lightning or storm clouds.

Carrot Top and Golden Harvest were twins and very good at cultivating carrots and other fresh ingredients –carrots were still their favorite though– and they actually sold those ingredients to many shops around Ponyville, especially to Sugarcube Corner seeing as one of the owners, Carrot Cake or just Mr Cake, was their cousin.

Speaking of cakes and twins, during the meal Loki felt something lightly hit her leg, she used her seidr to grab whatever it was that was bothering her, imagine her surprise when she had a pair of foals floating in front of her, they were quite young probably not having reached their first year of age yet.

Pinkie was quick to introduce them as Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, fraternal twins and the children of the owners of Sugarcube Corner, her bosses Mr and Mrs Cake, Mrs Cake was also known by her full name Cup Cake –previous named Chiffon Swirl.

Loki noticed that the two foals had quite a strong seidr for their age while they tried and failed to get out of Loki’s telekinetic hold, but they seemed pretty happy to just float there, it didn’t take long for the parents to try and put them back in the playpen.

However Loki could tell that it wasn’t going to make a difference, their seidr responded to their wish/will and soon enough Pound Cake was flying in front of Loki who just raised an eyebrow at the pegasus foal, then she felt Pumpkin Cake teleport on top of her head and hold her mane and Pound cake joined his sister in playing with Loki’s mane.

Mr and Mrs Cake were mortified of what happened, Rarity and Twilight had a look of shock, Fluttershy, Dinky, the crusaders and Ditzy thought it was cute, Celestia, Rainbow and AJ were trying not to laugh, and lastly Pinkie, Carrot Top, Golden Harvest and the parents were trying and failing to get the twins under control, they would just teleport/fly back to their new favorite place to play with Loki’s mane.

All the while Loki ignored everything in favor of appreciating her tea, the only times she would intervene was when Pumpkin Cake tried to bite Loki’s mane, but aside from that she let them have their fun. She survived events of cosmic scale, next to that it was pretty easy to pay no mind to a pair of magically gifted foals.

After the twins got tired, which it took longer than the ponies trying to get them under control, even Pinkie Pie, Loki just levitated them and rocked them to sleep without looking, after that just a quick spell to get their seidr under control. She turned to the parents and floated the twins to them.

“I just did a spell to counter this surges of magic, that won’t happen again for a few days,” said Loki to the Cakes.

“Your Highness, how did you do it? I mean how are you so good with foals?” asked Mrs Cake.

“Experience mostly, I did raise hundreds of children of different species, my experience rarely fails me,” said Loki as if talking about the weather. Then she asked, “By the way what are their favorite toys?”

The Cakes still in shock just pointed to a ball and a plushie on the playpen, Loki just levitated them close to her and used her seidr to carve/sew a few runes on them.

“Just let them touch one these and it will cancel any further surges in the future, let them play with these toys every day and no more magical surges will occur,” said Loki before returning to the table and taking a few more sips of her tea.

Everypony was looking at Loki as if she made the greatest discovery ever and were in awe of what just happened.

“What?” asked Loki.


	17. Family

“I must say, grandmother, I never expected you to be that good when it comes to dealing with unruly foals,” said Celestia.

“Yeah, you are like super duper good, just sitting there and then ta-dah foals asleep and well behaved,” said Pinkie Pie before suddenly appear right next to her and whisper, “what’s your secret?”

Before Loki could respond Pinkie was laying on the table with a pleading look saying, “Teach me, please. Teach me, please with sugar, cinnamon, candy and anything I can think of on the top. Pleeeeeeeaaaaaseeeeeee.”

Of course, Pinkie Pie was trying to keep her voice down as she didn’t want to wake up the foals.

“That’s just experience,” said Loki.

Pinkie was downcast because she couldn’t learn a super secret to make the task of taking care of the twins easier, she crawled back to her sit and just slumped on the table.

Ignoring Pinkie's antics the rest of the group returned to the conversation.

“Well, my muffin here never gave me much trouble even with the occasional surge of magic,” said Ditzy.

“You should have seen her when you were not around, we had to chase her all over the house,” said Golden Harvest with Carrot Top just nodding beside her.

“Oh, that’s why both of you looked tired when I came back from work,” said Ditzy while Dinky just blushed in embarrassment.

“Y’all should have seen this little filly here running around the farm because she didn’t want to use diapers, almost every time after a bath she would run off, me and Big Mac had to chase her around the house, the barn and even the orchard sometimes, which lead to another bath,” said AJ as Apple Bloom blushed and tried to hide under the table.

“Well, Sweetie here never gave me much trouble, except when she tried to play with my makeup kit, but aside from that she was always well behaved as a foal,” said Rarity while Sweetie Belle sighed in relief, she was lucky that most of her embarrassing moments happened around their parents while Rarity was busy perfecting her craft.

“Well, there was this one time when me and Marble –my younger twin– were itsy-bitsy foals and we were playing hide and seek with Maud and Limestone –our older sisters. We hide on the mines and Maud and Limestone spent the whole afternoon looking for us, while I and Marble just giggled at them as we saw them look all over the farm for us,” said Pinkie while giggling at the memory. That fact in on itself wasn’t that shocking since she already told them that she had sisters, they just never asked their names or how many sisters she had.

“You think they are unruly, you should have seen Sleipnir when he was a foal, more often than not he would run across the cosmos and I was the one that had to get him out of trouble, especially when he ended up catching the attention of space pirates and/or hostile aliens,” said Loki.

“Ok, Ah can’t think of anything that can top that,” said AJ with Ditzy nodding.

“It would be awesome to have a little brother or sister while growing up, unfortunately, I was the youngest in the family,” said Rainbow.

That shocked the ponies present, except for Loki and Celestia because it didn’t make much of a difference to them and Ditzy and Fluttershy because they knew Dash as a filly in Cloudsdale, but no one was more shocked than Scootaloo since she just found out that her idol had older siblings and she was the youngest member of the family.

“Now now, your brothers were not that bad,” said Fluttershy.

“Easy for you to say you only have one brother, and he is your twin,” said Rainbow.

“Well, living with Zephyr Breeze has its own challenges,” said Fluttershy.

“And I’m the one who can’t stand your younger brother Flutters, it’s so annoying when he thinks I’m flirting with him when I just want him to shut up,” said Rainbow.

“Hold it right there nelly, you’re saying that both of you have brothers?” asked AJ.

“Yeah, Flutters has a younger twin brother and I have four older brothers,” said Rainbow.

*gasp*

The gasp came from Pinkie Pie from the revelation of the fact that Rainbow has four brothers, that meant so many new parties to plan.

“And I agree with you,” said Pinkie Pie looking at me.

“Pinkie, what have I told you about 4th Wall Breaks?” asked Loki.

“That it's rude,” said Pinkie.

“Now apologize to the nice author who is writing this story,” said Loki.

“Sorry mister author,” said Pinkie, don’t worry, I’m not mad, you are just so adorable that I can’t be mad at you.

“Thank you,” said Pinkie.

“That actually explains a lot about her attitude and behavior,” said Rarity ignoring this little exchange between Pinke, Loki and the invisible inter-dimensional observer in a higher plane of existence that is me, the Narrator/Author.

“So what are your brothers like?” asked Applejack.

“Red Shield and Blue Saber are the oldest of the bunch, they are twins and serve in the royal army, both are stationed in Cloudsdale,” said Rainbow.

“What a coincidence, my brother also serves in the army, actually he is part of the royal guard,” said Twilight, at this point while they are surprised that she had a brother, nopony was too shocked.

“Green Glaive and Yellow Mace help dad by working in the factory in Cloudsdale. Green Glaive is a designer, he works mostly making snowflakes and Yellow Mace works on making clouds, he is also a bodybuilder in his free time, in fact, I think he is friends with Bulk Biceps,” said Rainbow.

The mane six, minus Fluttershy, the CMC and Ditzy’s roommates were processing what they learned, it is not every day you learn about siblings you didn’t know your friends had.

“Believe me, I know the feeling of growing up with meatheads for brothers,” said Loki.

“You mentioned your brothers before grandmother, who are they?” asked Celestia, then they all turned to Loki, curious about her family, even the Cakes that returned from upstairs after making sure the twins were tucked in.

“Biological or adopted?” asked Loki.

“Both,” said Celestia.

“I have two biological younger brothers and five adopted older brothers,” said Loki letting the information sink in.

“That is quite a family you got there your highness,” said AJ.

“Yeah, ‘family’,” said Loki to herself and didn’t comment on AJ using the royal title.

“I almost never interacted with Helblindi and Byleistr, my biological brothers, since I was taken from Jotunheim as a baby,” said Loki.

“Why would somepony take a baby from its family?” asked Fluttershy horrified at this idea.

“There was a war going on at the time and I was a baby found alone, maybe Odin took me as a spoil of war or maybe he thought he was just rescuing a baby, I don’t know and at this point, I no longer care what his intentions were,” said Loki solemnly.

“That’s rough,” said Rainbow.

“As for my Asgardian brothers there is Hermod God of Speed,” said Loki but was interrupted by Rainbow.

“That’s my kinda god,” said Rainbow.

“He is also the Messenger of the Gods and the patron deity of all messengers,” said Loki to Rainbow.

“Yay, god of the mail,” said Ditzy and Dinky while clapping.

RD groaned at this, who would have guessed that she and Ditzy would find out about a single god that shared their interests.

“There's Vidar God of Strength,” continued Loki before she was interrupted by AJ.

“Now, that seems to be my kind of god,” said AJ.

“He is also the God of Vengeance,” said Loki to AJ.

“Nevermind,” said Applejack.

“I never got along with those two but I never had problems with them either, we just did our own things and didn’t bother each other, even growing up we were like strangers to each other, despite me and Hermod being around the same age,” said Loki.

“That’s so sad!” shouted Pinkie as she burst into tears.

“Families should love and care for each other not be strangers,” said AJ.

“Not cool,” said Rainbow.

“Now I’m apprehensive about discovering how the rest of the family is like,” said Celestia.

“You will find out that every pantheon of gods is nothing but a very troubled family with a lot of power,” said Loki to Celestia.

Awkward silence for an almost a seconds, the time needed for Pinkie to recover.

“Moving on, I also have Balder, God of Light and Protector of Life, the only one of my brothers that I could talk openly with, we spend a lot of time in the Great Library of the Gods jus-” Loki was saying but was interrupted by Twilight.

“Library! What was it like? How many books does it have? Does it have anything on magic? What about history? So many questions!!!,” now Twilight was squealing and acting like a fangirl, it was to be expected she just heard that there is a “Great Library of the Gods”.

“Egghead! Not now,” said Rainbow as everypony was looking at Twilight.

“Sorry,” said Twilight as she lowered her head and ears for how she behaved in front of her mentor and her mentor’s grandmother.

“It’s alright my faithful student, you can ask your questions later,” said Celestia to Twilight.

“Anyway, as I was saying, Balder and I spent a great deal of time in the Library talking about the books we read, but we spent less time as he went to train with the others and I went to study the art of seidr, Balder is the most level-headed of the bunch, so it’s no surprise he became a diplomat,” said Loki.

“He seems like a reasonable stallion,” said Rarity.

“Indeed, he might be a diplomat but he's still a warrior, the difference is that he uses words as weapons and he thinks before acting, unfortunately, because of his sphere of influence he is at odds with my daughter Hela, Goddess of Death and Queen of the Damned and the Dearly Departed but that is a story for another day,” said Loki.

“Your daughter is a Goddess Of Death? Wow, that’s metal,” said Rainbow while Fluttershy gave Loki a look of uncertainty.

“I'm sure she would appreciate the compliment, she is not very well-liked,” said Loki before continuing, “Then we have Thor God of Thunder and the eldest of the group, as Odin’s firstborn he always had more privileges and preferred to spend his younger days fighting, drinking and sleeping around, he would drag me into his adventures and more often than not I was the one to save Thor and his friends.”

“He is the one that hit things with his hammer, right?” asked Sweetie Belle while raising her right foreleg like a student in a class,

“Yes that one,” said Loki and Sweetie smiled and preened herself for having remembered that fact.

“And lastly Tyr, the God of War and Law,” said Loki only to stop as Scootaloo raised her right foreleg.

“That’s the mean one, right?” asked Scootaloo.

“Indeed he is,” said Loki as Scoots send a smug look at Sweetie Belle while Loki continued, “he never liked me, to him I was a ‘waste of time and effort’ of the Allfather and Allmother, he even called me the ‘shame of the royal family’, I took great pleasure in knowing that Fenrir manage to bite off his hand.”

“How could somepony bite off the ‘hand’ of another?” asked Twilight.

“Fenrir was always bigger and stronger the rest of his kind, even as a pup,” said Loki.

“Pup?” asked Fluttershy, Twilight, Rainbow and Celestia.

“Yes pup, Fenrir takes the form of a giant wolf,” said Loki catching the attention of Fluttershy.

“That sounds lovely, um do you have any other children in an animal form? If you don’t mind me asking,” asked Fluttershy shyly.

“I have many children of many species but in this case just Jormungandr, who is in the form of a serpent big enough to coil around an entire world without trouble,” said Loki.

Everypony was shocked with the sheer enormity of such a living being not even the Dragon Lord, who is the biggest known living being on Statera, comes close to that.

“How can a living organism be this big?” asked Twilight.

“The universe is vast beyond the imagination of gods and mortals, finding a life that defies your logic and expectations is a certainty, it’s a place full not only wonders and hopes but also horrors and despair, in sum endless possibilities,” said Loki.

Indeed that is the truth, there are corners of the universe where even the gods dare not to go, place that are either too dark or too bright for even Heimdall to see, dimensions so alien that can break even the mind of a god.

“It makes me want to see it, the cosmos,” said Celestia feeling a foal like curiosity and longing for adventures.

“Maybe one day,” said Loki.

That was when they noticed that it was getting late.

“Well we better get back, most of us have work to do, Applejack would you mind taking care of the crusaders,” said Rarity.

“Ah don’t mind, since Ah already did mah chores anyway,” said Applejack.

“Dinky how about you spend some time with us?” asked Scootaloo.

“Can I mommy?” asked Dinky with the cutest look she could muster.

“Of course you can muffin,” said Ditzy nuzzling her foal.

“Do you mind if we talk a little bit on the way to your workplace?” asked Loki.

“Not at all Lady Loki,” said Ditzy.

“Do you by any chance have a propensity for accidents, especially when you are close to lightning?” asked Loki.

“How did know that?” asked Ditzy.

“Apparently both you and your daughter are also my descendants, your propensity for accidents is the same magic that gives Pinkie Pie her unusual abilities and eccentricity, it comes from the same ancestor,” said Loki.

“Does that means that Ditzy is like my nth degree cousin?” asked Pinkie and Loki nodded.

“This calls for a Party!!!” shouted Pinkie already gathering her ‘emergency supply for unexpected parties’ from a nearby stash and stuffing it on her party cannon, which she took out of her mane, hammerspace or personal pocket dimension as Loki explained to Twilight on the day she asked about Pinkie’s ability.

“Ok but it has to be later, I got to get back to my job,” said Ditzy.

“Okie Dokie Loki,” said Pinkie putting her cannon, now fully loaded, back on her mane.

Celestia observed both Pinkie and Ditzy now curious as to who is their common ancestor, she had her suspicions but if they were proven to be truth, then her life was going to become very complicated in the near future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To me, Rainbow's attitude is that of a younger sister that grew up with at least two brothers.  
> And I once saw a picture of Rainbow with four stallions, the description said it was her brothers. (the inspiration for this idea)  
> I wrote this chapter before watching "Parental Glideance", but I incorporated Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof in Rainbow's family tree for this story.  
> So for this story, she has:  
> Red Shield, Blue Saber, Green Glaive, Yellow Mace (all OC) as her brothers  
> Bow Hothoof as her father  
> Windy Whistles as her mother  
> Rainbow Blaze(Bow’s brother) as her uncle  
> And a few other relatives that I will reveal later in the story.


	18. Enemies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is violence in this chapter.

**Somewhere just outside of the solar system three months later**

Thor was in outer space flying in the direction of an unknown vessel at the edge of the solar system, a vessel that was spotted by Heimdall and detected by the scientists on Midgard, but after the last few months he wouldn't take any chances, as he travelled he was thinking about the changes that occurred in Midgard.

Since the Chitauri attack, no less than 4 invasions have been attempted by three different civilizations. The first and second attempts were made by the Kree and Skrull respectively, but they were stopped by the combined effort of the Avengers with new members in its roster and the Fantastic Four. The third attempt was made by the Shi’ar, but the Avengers and a group of Midgardians with blood-gifts –nowadays called mutants– called X-men manages to make a deal and the Shi’ar left Midgard alone. The fourth attempt was made by the Kree again but this time they brought their armada and it took everything Midgard had to stop them, the Avengers, the X-men, the Fantastic Four and two new allies the Inhumans and the Atlanteans.

The leaders of Midgard were restless since the reemergence of Atlantis, Attilan and Wakanda in the international landscape, King Namor McKenzie the ruler of Atlantis decide to mostly stay out of the affairs of the surface so long it didn't involve his people, King T'Challa ruler of Wakanda –Prince T’Challa at the time– came to the Avengers for help in retaking the throne of Wakanda and now was a fellow Avenger, King Blackagar Boltagon ruler of Attilan –commonly know as Black Bolt– like Namor decided to stay out of human affairs so long it didn't involve his people.

The fact that the Sorcerer Supreme and other mages/sorcerers/magicians became now known to Midgard, in general, didn't help either especially because they had to deal with an inter-dimensional incursion caused by demons and other esoteric forces.

This, in turn, caused the public to become aware of S.H.I.E.L.D.( Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Division), S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), A.R.M.O.R. (Alternate Reality Monitoring and Operational Response), and their respective functions to defend Midgard from threats. Unfortunately, this unrest among the people was causing a rift in the “superhero community” about how to handle this and Thor feared that his friends may start to take sides on a conflict where he wouldn't be able to choose the “right side”.

Thor approached the unknown ship and noticed that its design bore similarities, both in size and form, to those platforms/ships that had smaller vehicles in its interior, especially of the flying type, the aircraft carrier and the helicarriers.

As Thor landed on the outside of the spaceship many guns appeared from hatches on the hull and pointed at him.

The moment he moved his head to the side to get a better view of what he was dealing with was the moment that all the weapons fired upon him. He instinctively used his left arm to cover his face and used Mjolnir, on his right hand, to smash all the weapons. Once all the weapons were destroyed he started to hit the hull until a hole was formed, then he used his immense strength to tear the metal and create a hole big enough for him to enter the ship.

Now on the inside of the ship its systems created a force field to seal the breach, so Thor started to investigate its hallways, he lifted Mjolnir to create and contain sparks of electricity to lit up his surroundings, not unlike a torch or a flashlight. He walked inside the seemingly abandoned ship, he was either walking into a trap or this was just a derelict ship with its defenses still intact, if it was the former he would fight but if it was the latter than it was strange, why a ship in such good condition would be abandoned?

Aside from small guns on the wall that would occasionally appear Thor walked unimpeded through the bowels of the ship. Arriving in a large chamber, there appeared to be metal coffins arranged in rolls on the floor and walls.

 _"So this is a funeral ship,"_  thought Thor as he looked at the coffins. He better redirect the ship away from the solar system and let these beings to their eternal rest as probably was their tradition.

Thor was about to leave when he heard a noise, deciding to investigate he got closer to one of the coffins and saw small monitors and digital displays on the coffins, then it dawned on him that this wasn't a funeral ship but a seed ship, a pathfinder carrying living people in search of a new home, he saw a few of those types of ships before.

Still, Thor didn't want for Midgard and the people on this ship to be in conflict so he better direct the ship to a nearby system without sentient life for them to create a colony, he would have to ask Heimdall if he knew this species and if he knew of a nearby suitable world for them.

As the Asgardian was contemplating what to do, someone managed to sneak behind him and by the time his instincts told him that something was wrong, it was too late. The unknown alien assailant, probably the protector and caretaker of the ship and its inhabitants, punched him hard enough to send him out of the chamber and into another chamber that looked like a dome on the inside.

“Skuttlebutt initiate the lockdown of the training chamber, use protocol ‘Sun of Korbin’ and stay alert in case of an invasion force is waiting,” said the strong and cultured voice of the attacker. He was humanoid, had light brown almost orange skin, his face has a muzzle with exposed teeth, his hands have three fingers and a thumb each, he was wearing a red and orange armor.

“Understood Beta and be careful there is something different about this demon,” said a female voice coming from all around him, probably an intelligent construct like Jarvis, the invisible servant of the Man of Iron.

“I will not let you hurt the korbinite people again demon,” said the being now named Beta.

Beta jumped at Thor, who just recovered from the blow on his head, and pulled his right arm back.

Thor waited until the last possible moment before moving to his left, Beta’s right, grabbed his opponent’s right wrist as well as biceps and did a judo flip and sent him crashing into the wall.

“What nonsense are you speak of?, I have no quarrel with you or your people,” said Thor as Beta got up from the hole in the wall after he was out wall ripples passed on its surface before fixing itself.

“LIES!! It was you and your demon brethren that destroyed our home, you can change your form but you can’t change your energy, you will not deceive me,” said Beta with conviction and unwavering resolve.

“It seems we are beyond words,” said Thor as he got ready to fight, his intentions were to just defeat the protector.

Thor threw Mjolnir at Beta, he dodged to the side and jumped at Thor, who prepared for another punch but Beta switched the punch with his right hand for a round kick with his left leg using the momentum of pulling his right arm back.

The kick hits Thor in the jaw and it hurt him, it was only thanks to his Asgardian physiology that he managed to keep his head and not break his neck. Beta directed the force of his kick at a slightly downward angle causing Thor to hit the floor face first.

Still, Beta used the momentum to preparer an axe kick with his other leg to hit Thor’s back but ignoring the pain the God of Thunder rolled away from Beta causing the axe kick to hit the floor and break it.

Thor got on his feet and tackled Beta but before he could hit the wall Beta kneed him hard on the rib cage, almost breaking his ribs but that didn't stop him despite the pain, just before he hit the wall Beta managed to knee the Asgardian again on the same spot breaking two ribs.

Once against the wall Thor started to punch Beta, who raises his arms to defend himself, then he managed to deflect one of Thor’s punches to his side hitting the wall behind him Beta used this moment as a distraction to elbow Thor in the point between the clavicle and the humerus, dislocating the god’s right shoulder but not before Thor headbutts Beta, it didn’t break his bones but left him dazed. So Beta instinctively used one of his legs to kick Thor away from him, as both of them recovered Thor put his shoulder back into its proper place.

“You are far more resilient than the other demons I have fought but that won’t save you, I Beta Ray Bill will not let you hurt my people,” said the now fully named Beta Ray Bill.

But Thor wasn’t listening, it was so rare for him to fight against an opponent this strong and skilled, he was enjoying the thrill of combat. He jumped ready to attack again, despite the fact that he didn't want to kill him during the fight, he was slowly letting go of his restrains.

Thor didn't know how long they traded blows, they kicked and punched each other to the point both of them had their own armor broken and tattered, both of them had broken bones, bones that they put back in their proper places to continue the fight, bruises could be seen throughout their bodies, despite having blood coming out of his mouth and broken nose Thor smiled.

Beta Ray Bill saw the smile on the face of the demon, not only he showed his true colors but he was enjoying this. He wouldn't be able to win in straightforward combat alone but then he remembered that the weapon of his enemy was close to him. While he kept the demon in his sight he got closer to the hammer and grabbed the hilt with his right hand, Thor saw this and chuckled.

“Only the worthy may lift Mjolnir and you ar-” Thor was interrupted by the lightning and thunder coming from the spot where Beta was, the same spot where he grabbed Mjolnir and from the light emerged Beta Ray Bill fully recovered and clad in a similar version of his armor.

“It seems your weapon betrayed you demon,” said Beta Ray Bill as he jumped with Mjolnir in hand ready to vanquish Thor, who was too shocked to react. However, before Bill could reach the shocked Asgardian a chromatic vortex with all the visible colors of the spectrum engulfed the two warriors and they disappear.

**The entrance of Asgard on the Rainbow Bridge**

Thor and Bill were frozen in mid-air in the same position as they were before being teleported, in the gatehouse at the edge of the Bifrost stood Odin, Heimdall, Lady Sif, the Warriors Three, Frigga and Balder.

Odin released the grip of his seidr on Thor and Beta Ray Bill, extending his right hand he uses his seidr to call Mjolnir, he felt the hammer resist but Odin overcame the resistance and Mjolnir flew to Odin’s hand, which caused Beta to return to how he was before picking the hammer.

“Father,” said Thor as he kneeled before the Allfather both in respect and because of his injuries.

“Brother, what happens?” said Balder as he went to help his older Brother.

“Nothing a trip to the healer won’t solve, there is no need to worry Balder,” said Thor to reassure his brother.

“My son, who did this to you?” asked Frigga in a worried tone.

“The korbinite did my queen,” answered Heimdall simply stating a fact, without any hint of anger on his voice.

“Why?” asked the Allmother as she motioned for the Warriors Three and Lady Sif to stop before they could attack the korbinite.

“I'm confused, all of you have almost identical energy signatures to the demons that destroyed my home, but none of you behave like them,” said Beta Ray Bill.

“Describe those demons,” said Odin with a firm and commanding tone.

“They came in many forms and sizes but always with a fiery red and/or coal black skin, sometimes with wings sometimes without but all of them have a burning touch that destroyed many worlds and eventually the home galaxy of the korbinites,” said Beta Ray Bill because he knew it would impossible to defeat all of them at the same time and because he wanted to know why his people were in the situation they were now.

“Father that sounds like…,” started Balder only to be interrupted by Odin.

“The dwellers of Muspelheim, we have many names for them, fire giants is the most well know, occasionally the eldthursar would appear on a random world and cause destruction but for an army of them to appear means only one thing,” said Odin as his mind turned to dark places, places with the thoughts he locked away from himself, forbidden memories and knowledge about the role he was forced to play on what was to come, a role forced upon him by them, Those-Who-Sit-Above-In-Shadows.

“Ragnarok is coming,” said Thor as he remembered the prophecies.

“But these are just the first signs, it might come in many years from now,” said Frigg.

“That does not change the fact that they destroyed my home and I can’t just believe you without proof, to me all of you are strangers,” said Beta Ray Bill.

“May I suggest something Allfather?” asked Balder.

“Proceed,” said Odin.

“We could send someone to investigate Surtur's prison on Muspelheim and see what is going on,” suggested Balder.

“If there is any chance of learning about the ones responsible for the near extinction of my race I will accompany anyone that will go in this mission,” said Beta Ray Bill and while the Asgardians might be strangers to him they were talking about the opportunity to learn about why his race almost died.

“Very well, come. Both of you need to heal before going on this mission,” said Odin before he turned around and walked toward the palace.

“Let me help you brother,” said Balder as he put Thor’s arm around his shoulders to help him walk.

Beta was about to follow them when he lost his footing but Sif helped him like Balder did to Thor.

“Why do you help me?” asked Bill.

“You may have fought Thor but you also wielded Mjolnir and your help may be needed in the fight that is to come,” said Sif.

“If what you say is true, then I will gladly help but my duty to my people comes first,” said Bill.

“I would expect nothing less,” said Sif as they walked to the palace.

**An hour later inside the throne room**

Beta Ray Bill managed to send a message to Skuttlebutt and explained that he might have found a lead on the fire demons, he asked her to take care of the korbinite while he was away. Also, Lady Sif volunteered to take his place while he embarked on this search.

During the time that it took for the healer to fix him he asked why their energy was so similar to the fire demons and according to them it was because the ancestors of the inhabitants of the Nine Realms came from the same place which they call Ginnungagap, that included the Asgardians and the fire giants, also they referred to this energy as seidr.

As Thor and Bill waited in the throne room they heard the sound of the door opening and Odin came in carrying Mjolnir but on his other hand was a golden hammer/axe roughly the same size as Mjolnir. After giving Mjolnir back to Thor Odin turned to face Bill.

“For proving your worthiness and to help in this dangerous mission I Odin Borson the Allfather, ruler of Asgard and sworn enemy of Surtur, bestow upon you, Beta Ray Bill the protector and caretaker of the korbinite, a mighty weapon to smite the wicked and protect those in need, Hridlemja also know as Stormbreaker,” announced Odin before lifting Stormbreaker to show it to those present.

“Hridlemja is a weapon forged with the same metal as Mjolnir, with the same enchantment and made by the same blacksmith in the same furnace, it’s like a younger brother/sister to Mjolnir. Now pick Hridlemja and let its seidr be bound to you as Mjolnir is bound to Thor,” said the Allfather.

Beta Ray Bill kneeled in front of Odin and extended his arms with open hands, to show respect and gratitude for both the hospitality and for this opportunity. The moment Stormbreaker touched his hands he felt a rush, the same as the one he felt when he grabbed Mjolnir but this one felt right, holding the hammer he felt the seidr inside it respond to him and it was like an extension of himself, the grip was perfect as if it was made especially for him.

Golden lightning was seeing and thunder was heard by those present in the room and from the smoke emerged Beta Ray Bill in garbs similar to Thor's. He got up and with golden lightning covering him he looked ready to face any enemy that threatened his people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words in Old Norse:  
> Hrid - storm  
> Lemja - break


	19. Myths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is violence and gore in this chapter.

**Muspelheim the Realm of Primordial Fire, few minutes after they left Asgard**

****

The two users of thunder and lightning arrived on a world with the scorched soil, rivers of magma and a sun so close that it took most of the skies above them.

Thor flew through the core of stars before and the feeling of plasma against his skin was enough that even he felt the heat, but it was just an annoyance. However, the air of Muspelheim on the other hand while it reminded him of that the air was so hot that defied the logic of mortals and far hotter than the center of any star.

Beta Ray Bill too was having a hard time to adapt, it was only thanks to the engineering of both genetic and cybernetic nature that were made on his body by the Korbinites and the new seidr flowing through his body that he was not dead. Once Bill got his bearings back he surveyed the landscape, merely looking at this place reminded him of the fire demons that destroyed his home.

“What is this place?” asked Bill had never seen a world like this, he saw planets forming before when they were just spheres of magma, but even they pale in comparison to this place.

“This my friend is Muspelheim the birthplace of the eldthursar,” said Thor before he held Mjolnir by the strap on the end of the handle, then spin it and throw it upwards while still holding on the strap.

With the momentum of the Mjolnir Thor flew, Bill saw this and did the same thing. It wasn’t a new experience to Bill, flight was a feat that could be achieved with sufficiently advanced technology after all.

As Thor and Bill were flying side by side Thor continued, “I heard stories of this place while growing up on Asgard. My mother said that before Yggdrasil existed the universe was a gaping abyss, Ginnungagap, on the two extremes of this abyss existed the primordial realms of fire and ice, Muspelheim and Niflheim respectively, that were ruled by the first fire giant, Surtur, and the first ice giant, Ymir the ancestors of all jotnar.”

They changed direction when Thor spotted something on the horizon, once they were en route to whatever Thor saw he continued his story, “The fire and ice of these realms met in the center of the abyss and as a result ice was melted and fire was quenched and in this place Yggdrasil started to grow.”

“That’s how your people believe the universe came to be?” asked Bill and Thor nodded.

“When Yggdrasil was big enough realms and new living beings started to appear, not only ancestor of all Asgardians Buri but also new races like the elves, dwarf and the various types of giants. When Surtur and Ymir noticed Yggdrasil they saw an opportunity to expand their domain Ymir wanted to freeze all the realms while Surtur wanted to burn everything.”

“Is this the reason the fire demons destroyed my home galaxy?” asked Bill.

“Most likely.” answered Thor before continuing the story, “My father and his late brothers, Vili and Ve were the ones that defeated Ymir and used the power of his original body to stabilize the newly formed realms. After Ymir's death, the surviving jotnar moved to a new world which they named Jotunheim.”

“Did you just said ‘original body’?” asked Bill.

“Aye my friend, Ymir is a primordial being, it’s almost impossible to kill him because so long the ice of Niflheim exist he will come back. His power after being used by my father and late uncles gathered in Jotunheim where most of his descendants lived and took the form of a great blizzard, a blizzard that was later named Fimbulvetr and contained in a casket by users of seidr that served the King of Jotunheim at the time. The Casket of Ancient Winters as it was later called allowed Jotunheim to enter in a new golden age led by the hrímthursar, frost/ice giants, until the beginning of the war against Asgard,” said Thor.

“So it still possible for this Ymir to come back and try to freeze the cosmos?” asked Bill worried about another threat of the same caliber as the fire demons.

“Yes but my father, my brothers and I fought against Ymir after he returned, his body remade from the ice of Niflheim, it was one of the most difficult battles of my life but in the end my father banished him to the Sea of Eternal Twilight, a dimension ruled by Mistress Death, there Ymir will experience rebirth, life and death constantly for as long he remains in there, which we hope is for eternity, he can only be freed by someone from outside of that realm,” said Thor.

“It seems your story deviated from its original purpose, what happened to this Surtur?” asked Bill.

“Sorry, my friend I was caught in the moment. After my father and his brothers fought against Ymir they recovered on Asgard, it wasn’t until a few years later that Surtur came to fulfill his promise of burning all creation. Surtur was far more vicious and resourceful in combat than Ymir, this cost the life of Vili and Ve but in their last breath, they gave all their power and seidr to my father. This allowed him to fight against Surtur to a standstill but the stalemate couldn’t last forever and unlike Surtur, my father was getting tired. Eventually, even the Odin would lose, so he used his new power –later called the Odinforce– to not only break his sword but also seal Surtur and his followers on Muspelheim, after that my father took the Eternal Flame to Asgard,” said Thor.

“But where did the fire demons come from?” asked Bill in order to learn what he could about the enemy.

“According to the stories that I heard from my parents as a child there were two types of fire giants, first is the Múspellsmegir born from the fires of Muspelheim and Surtur, the second is the Rjúfendr those born in other realms that follow Surtur willingly and those that were captured and ended up being ‘converted’ by Surtur to better serve him, the ones that exist today are these two groups and their descendants,” said Thor.

“Wait, you are saying that some of my people might be here?!” asked Bill alarmed by such a possibility.

“Then they are no longer your people, now they are the soldiers of Surtur, but I also heard rumors of a group of eldthursar that manage to escape Surtur’s grasp and now lives on Jotunheim. Maybe some of your people that were converted escaped as well,” said Thor, it was was a small hope but that was all that Bill needed.

They continued to fly in silence but stopped when they saw small dots on the sky. After a few seconds they realized that those dots were flying eldthursar and behind them, on the ground more dots were appearing from over the horizon running toward the two. They rocketed forward to meet the demons, both warriors were ready for a battle worthy of many songs in the Halls of Asgard.

Mjolnir and Stormbreaker each met the head of a demon, whose heads exploded as the bright orange almost magma-like blood and brains rained down on the scorching soil, but the other demons didn’t hesitate or faltered. As an almost unmeasurable number of demons kept coming they seemed to blacken the horizon, eventually, it became too much and the two warriors with lightning coursing through their veins became overwhelmed and fell from the sky.

The demons pile up into mounds, then there was only silence, but not long after lightning and thunder rained down on them and the mounds exploded as Thor and Bill used their immense strength to get the demons off of themselves. As the demons fell around the Son of Asgard and the Son of Korbin, now back to back, they were eventually surrounded by fire demons of many shades of either red, orange or coal black colors and also many shapes and sizes but all of them with orange glowing eyes and mouth like the fires of this realm.

“Fighting against an army of demons, not a bad way to die don’t you think?” asked Thor as he kept his eye on the demons to make sure that neither he nor Bill were caught off guard.

“I have no plans to die today,” said Bill as he did the same as Thor.

“Indeed, we shall return to Asgard drink and feast while songs of this battle echoes through its halls, besides your people depend on you,” said Thor.

“You are right, today we are no longer strangers, we are now brothers-in-arms,” said Bill as Thor nodded even if Bill couldn’t see.

“FOR ASGARD/KORBIN!!!” the warriors shouted the name of their respective homes as they jumped on the enemies.

The sound of hammers hitting flesh and thunder could be heard from the distance, even as hammers were thrown and ripped arms, legs, wings, and heads of as many demons it could while the warriors fought with their bare hands before their weapons returned, neither the demons nor the worthy warriors stopped, even when they felt the heat of the body of the demons almost burn their hands, they did not stop.

With hammers and bare hands, they tore through the flesh and bone of the enemies that wouldn’t stop coming even when they stepped over the corpses of their fallen brethren. At some point, Thor ripped the arm of a particularly big fire giant and used as a bludgeoning weapon until the hardened flesh was torn off and the bones were broken. Bill was using Stormbreaker and his cybernetics to do the same as Thor but unlike Thor Bill was more efficient in eliminating the enemies.

On this extremely rare occasion Thor stopped holding back, each one of his blows with more than enough force to crack a planet, he enjoyed the thrill of battle, but like in his battle with Bill, he could feel the Warrior’s Madness rising in the back of his mind. He had to keep his focus, if he was alone it wouldn’t be such a problem but if he became a Berserkr here he would not stop even if he started to fight against Bill, he would do anything to satiate his bloodlust if that happened, regardless of who he had to fight with.

The two warriors continued to rip the enemies to pieces, but with their numbers, it was inevitable that some of the demons manage to land at least a lucky hit on the two. They didn't know how long they fought under the heat of that unmovable and unforgiving sun, but in the end, not a single demon was left alive.

In the end, Thor and Bill were surrounded by mountains of corpses the soil was orange with so much blood and organs from the demons, it was almost indistinguishable from the lakes and pools of magma not too far from them. Their armor was torn, broken burned and melted beyond repair and they were exhausted.

“We better find shelter from the sun and rest for a while, after that we can resume our mission,” said Thor as he pointed to a mountain not far from the battlefield.

“Agreed,” said Bill as he too felt ready to collapse.

They walked to a cave and once inside they use their hammers to create a small raincloud and let the water wash over them, using their seidr to keep the water cold. The water evaporated as soon as it touched their skin but it was slowly refreshing them, they set on the ground with hammers still in hand and breathed a sigh of relief.

“It seems in my haste to get answers I neglected to ask about the details of the mission, what exactly is our mission here?” asked Bill.

“We are to see how far the seals on Surtur have degraded, the degradation must be quite far along since he was able to send an army to your galaxy, if possible we may be able to discover why he destroyed your galaxy in the first place,” said Thor.

“It would bring closure to know why this had to happen to my people,” said Bill.

“You may not like the answer, my friend,” said Thor warning of the possible hurt he may feel upon learning the truth.

“Whatever the answer may be I will deal with it. Besides my people need to know that our tragedy wasn’t in vain,” said Bill.

They rested in silence and the clouds slowly dissipated in the heat of Muspelheim. Once they got enough rest they got up and resume their search.

Hours of flight later they found the remnants of a city carved from the red and black stone of this realm.

This place was empty –probably where all those demons came from– and as they were about to fly to another location the ground started to shake and they realized that something of great size was approaching. The tremors seemed to be coming from beyond the mountains in the distance, they waited to confront whatever is coming when…

A giant flaming sword cut the mountains followed by the one holding it, this was the biggest fire demon they have ever seen in their lives and it wasn’t a simple fire demon, this was Surtur the Lord of Muspelheim.

“What we have here? An Asgardian, not any Asgardian but the son of the brat that imprisoned me in my own realm,” said Surtur with his deep voice that seemed to be a combination of a growl, the grinding of metal against metal and the crackling of fire itself.

“Surtur! What have you done?!” shouted Thor because of the size difference.

“Only what I am meant to do,” said Surtur before looking at Thor’s ally and ask, “You look familiar, have I seen your kind before?”

“And I should! You destroyed my home galaxy and drove my people to the brink of extinction!!” screamed Bill.

“Ah, a korbinite. It seems I lost my touch, I was sure that you race was extinct. No matter, I will send a few of my children to finish the job,” said Surtur.

“How dare you?!!” screamed Bill as he leaped with Stormbreaker ready to strike.

“Bill, no!!” screamed Thor, but it was too late.

Moving with a speed that seemed impossible for a creature of his size, he managed to put his blade in the path of Stormbreaker, the moment contact was made between the hammer of Beta Ray Bill and the sword of Surtur an explosion of lightning and fire happened and Bill was launched into a volcano’s side, where he formed a large crater on the bedrock and the tremor caused the volcano to erupt.

“Bill, get out of there!!” shouted Thor.

Bill even though still dazed because of the explosion and heard Thor shout something he couldn’t understand but it seemed important, he willed Stormbreaker to get him out of there and the hammer did so.

Stormbreaker pulled Bill by the hand that was holding on it, just in time for the magma to start to fill the crater he was on. He crashed near Thor but managed to somewhat recover and get up.

“You insects amuse me,” said Surtur.

“WHY?! Why did you destroy my home galaxy?!” shouted Bill with difficulty breathing and keeping himself up.

Surtur just laughed at his desperation to know what happened and just showed them his flaming sword.

“For this, your galaxy was the perfect place to forge this sword, Rokkrhjorr , the black hole in the center was the furnace and the celestial bodies on its orbit was the fuel. You should be proud of it, the destruction of your galaxy gave me the weapon that will set the universe ablaze and light the Eternal Flame,” said Surtur.

Thor was now supporting Bill and thought that they have heard enough.

“Heimdall, get us out of here!!” shouted Thor to the sky.

“I won’t let you escape that easily grandson of Bor!” shouted Surtur with his terrible voice but before his sword could reach them they disappeared in a vortex of light.

When the sword hit the ground it opened an abyss that stretched from the tip of the sword to a place beyond the horizon. Surtur let his frustration be known by letting out a roar the defied comprehension and shook Yggdrasil to its foundations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words in Old Norse:  
> Rokkr — means "twilight" (from the verb røkkva "to grow dark")  
> Hjorr— one of the words that means "sword"  
> Eldjotnar or Eldthursar— fire giants or fire demon  
> Rjúfendr (from rjúfa — "to break, tear asunder") in the context is something like Destroyers of Doomsday  
> Múspellssynir or Múspellsmegir — "sons of Muspell"  
> Ginnungagap ("gaping abyss", "yawning void") is the primordial void in Norse Mythology. Also called Chaos(Greek) or Amatsu-Mikaboshi(Japanese). Actually it's kinda difficult to find a name to refer to the universe before creation that isn't "void", "abyss" or something similar. I might put other names later but for now just these three.


	20. Signs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Speech between "<>" are for different languages.

**Unknown location in space**

In the center of a hollow asteroid hurling through the cosmos was a chamber with the walls full of runes to keep the prisoner contained. Malekith bound by enchanted chains and suspended in the center of the chamber felt the shift on the dimensional walls.

 _“If I can't have all the realms they might as well burn,”_  thought Malekith before laughing maniacally but no sound came out of his mouth because there was no air in the chamber just like the outer space through which the asteroid was been hurled through.

**Helheim, Hela’s palace, throne room**

Hela the Asgardian Goddess of Death, Queen of the Damned and Dearly Departed and oldest daughter of the sorceress Angrboda and the god Loki, just sat on her throne made of bones and stone wearing her green suit, cape and horned helmet.

Beside her was Garm, her hellhound companion, she was the one that guarded the gates of Helheim and was the most powerful hellhound of all, she was also quite big, but not as big as Fenrir, one of Hela’s siblings. Garm was like a black wolf with orange glowing eyes.

“Ragnarok approaches,” said Hela mostly to herself not afraid of the eventual end, all things in the universe will die sooner or later, even herself wasn't immune to that concept.

Every deity of death possessed a connection to Mistress Death and as such had a greater understanding of the Great Cosmic Wheel, granted there were those like Hades, or Pluto depending on who you ask, who was just as arrogant and vain as any other god.

Hela, who had an unusually strong connection with Mistress Death even for a death god, knew that gods could disrupt the natural flow of the cosmos, one example was the souls of mortals, souls were meant to return to the Great Wheel, be cleansed and reborn not be hoarded by greed god like Odin or Hades.

That was why there were rules put in place that even the gods must follow, one such a rule was that under normal circumstances to never take a soul that wasn't from the worshippers of your pantheons, the only gods that respect the Cosmic Compass were the ones that released the souls they possess back into the universe.

“Preparations are needed, come Garm,” said Hela as she walked out of the throne room.

**Earth unknown location**

A rift in space was opened and a sphere of metal came through.

The sphere opened and the familiar face of the Red Skull smiled when he saw the blue sky and ocean of Earth, he was back.

**An unknown planet in the Milky Way Galaxy**

Another rift formed leaving a dazed red-haired warrior in golden armor and long ribbons around her neck.

Confused she looked around and spotted a city, she walked toward it with the intention of getting some answers.

**One of the many planets owned by the Collector**

The Collector was cataloging the newest addition to his collection in one of his many planets that were converted into a museum/display for his items and specimens when he felt the shift.

“How intriguing, it seems things will be more interesting from now on,” said the Collector to himself.

“Master, a transmission was received, should I ignore it like all the others?” asked one of his many guards a humanoid with green skin, a Skrull.

“That depends, who sent the transmission?” asked the Collector.

“I don’t know his species, the message was audio only, but he called himself Star-Lord and said something about an Orb from Morag,” answered the Skrull.

“Ah! Yes! Send a response, tell him that we shall meet in Knowhere. I will be leaving immediately, but before I go send ‘that’ item to my ship, it’s for a very important trade,” said the Collector not even facing the Skrull, probably a battle-slave he bought at some point to be a guard.

“It will be done master,” said the Skrull bowing to the Collector.

“What will you bring me this time Traveler,” said the Collector as his fingers twitched in anticipation while he entered one of his many luxurious ships to travel to that space station and before his ship took off he sent a pulse of cosmic energy across dimensions in order to reach a certain god.

**Asgard, Himinbjorg the gatehouse at the edge of the Bifrost**

Thor and Bill reappeared still smoking from the temperature of Surtur’s sword coming close to them. Inside the gatehouse was Heimdall, naturally, Odin, whose presence was requested by Heimdall, and Lady Sif, who came to speak with her brother.

Odin waited for them to recover before he asked, “What have you discovered?”

“Surtur is still trapped in Muspelheim, for now, but the barrier became weak enough for him to send his forces out,” said Thor.

“Then it is as I feared,” said Odin before he turned around and walked back to the palace without saying another word.

“What were you thinking?! Confronting Surtur head on, that was very foolish of you,” said Sif to Bill.

“How do you know that?” asked Bill.

“Her brother was watching us make sure we didn’t die,” said Thor.

“Brother?” asked Bill only to see Thor pointing to Heimdall, so he responded, “I see.”

“We survived a confrontation with Surtur in Muspelheim! Let us celebrate and after that Heimdall can guide your ship to a suitable world for your people,” said Thor in a jovial tone.

“Thank you for everything,” said Bill bowing to Thor.

“There is no need to bow or thank me, we are sworn-brothers, any time you need my help just call and I will answer,” said Thor helping Bill to walk.

“Then I shall do the same. Maybe we should see the healers before celebrating,” said Bill as Thor nodded while they walked to the palace with difficulty.

Heimdall returned to his duty after making sure for more than thirty days that the prince and his ally would return safely.

**Statera, land of Equestria, Canterlot City**

Loki was having a pleasant conversation with Twilight Sparkle and Moon Dancer.

Moon Dancer was a pony with a cream colored coat, dark violet eyes and a raspberry colored mane and tail with a grayish violet and purple highlights, she also wore a gray sweater with pink buttons and had a rubber band holding some of her mane up.

Moon Dancer was a friend of Twilight that she helped three months ago after she realized the consequences of her actions, she learned that just because something didn't seem all that important to you it could still leave a lasting impact on the lives of another. For example, not showing up to Moon Dancer’s party hurt her so much that she became afraid to trust ever again, luckily Twilight convinced her to give one more chance and they occasionally visit each other either on Canterlot or Ponyville when they can.

When Loki saw Moon Dancer for the first time he was surprised that she wasn’t a relative of Twilight and/or one of his descendants. It was right in the middle of their conversation that the God of Stories felt a shift in the dimensional walls.

“Thor, you idiot, do you know what you have done?” asked Loki aloud to himself.

“Are you alright, Your Highness?” asked Moon Dancer.

“Yes I’m alright, it’s just that my brother just did something stupid,” said Loki, he kinda missed his hands to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“How did you know that?” asked Twilight.

“I can feel a slight shift in the dimensional walls originating from Muspelheim, I’m sorry but we will have to cut this conversation short, do you want me to send you back to Ponyville?” asked Loki.

“No need, we can just catch a train, besides we need to pack a few things first,” said Twilight.

“But thanks for the offer Your Highness,” said Moon Dancer as she followed Twilight out of the library in the castle’s tower before she said, “I can’t wait to spend some time with your new friends on Ponyville.”

As Loki was left alone he reflected on what happened on the last four months, he spent a holiday called Hearth’s Warming with Celestia and Luna, saw a stage play performed by the mane six, yes Loki is aware of the fandom’s terminology, and saw the Winter Wrap Up here on Canterlot.

Aside from those dates, in particular, Loki had been visiting Ponyville a lot, one reason was to teach Ditzy, and by extension Dinky, and Pinkie how to properly use their unusual abilities, even if Pinkie self-taught skill were pretty good there were gaps in her knowledge and Ditzy’s propensity for accidents was a lot smaller now, he also visited Scootaloo in the orphanage where he also found the mysterious purple filly with spiral eyes, the one that had chaos magic.

Her name was Screwball and she became friends with the CMC, good thing too because she was feeling lonely in the orphanage and most foals didn’t like the chaos she accidentally caused, the crusaders, on the other hand, thought it was cool. Speaking of the CMC their ranks increased in number, almost half of their class were crusaders now, granted not all of them could go and adventures after their inner sigil all the time but they still helped each other when they could.

Loki even visited their school on “Family Appreciation Day”, because Dinky’s mother and aunts were busy on that day, Harvest and Carrot had a big delivery to make while Ditzy had her letters to deliver, luckily Loki was on Ponyville that day so he offered to go with Dinky since he was technically related to her. Dinky called him “super grampa”, while it was childish it was easier for her to say than great-great…(many “greats”)...grandfather, all foals were in awe with his adventures, granted he had to downplay the more violent parts of his journey.

After Hearth’s Warming Rainbow apparently talked with her parents and Scootaloo was adopted so Rainbow was now officially Scootaloo’s big sister, technically Rainbow was her legal guardian so she could be either a mother or a sister depending on how their dynamic would develop now that they live together. And a few days ago he and Celestia were judges in the National Dessert Competition, Celestia more than him anyway, and the winner was joint effort between the Cake couple, a griffon named Gustave, another pony named Donut Joe and a female donkey name Mulia.

However the day that was on Loki's mind the most was when he went to investigate the Castle of the Two Sisters, a castle he learned about by asking his granddaughters, and he saw the place where Nightmare Moon was purged from Luna. There was something about the story that bothered him, at least he found some answers investigating the place, now he just had a few questions for Luna to answer but that is for another day. It was also on that day that he found the fulcrum of the dimensional barrier in Statera, he met Zecora, visited Fluttershy’s home and met her pet bunny, Angel.

**Edge of the Everfree Forest three months and a week ago**

Loki landed before a suspended bridge made of rope and wood, he felt two energies one was remnants of Luna’s seidr coming from inside the castle and the other is the same energy that permeated the air of Statera but denser and coming from below the castle.

Deciding to investigate the castle first Loki did a spell to repair the bridge before he crossed it, now on the other side he could clearly feel Luna’s seidr but it was corrupted and tainted. Reaching the chamber where the feeling was stronger than any other place, he let out a green mist from his horn and asked for the stones of this castle to tell him their stories, he was after all the God of Stories.

The green mist took the forms of Celestia and Luna and showed Loki many moments about Luna’s slow fall from grace, it was subtle but it was there. The way she slowly changed to the point where she threatened her sister with eternal night. Then he witnessed the fight between his granddaughters and Luna’s banishment, after that he saw Nightmare Moon return to the castle and Twilight rediscovering the elements and Nightmare Moon’s purge.

When the story ended Loki's eye glowed white and gray mist started to come out of the cracks and fissures in the stones, when the mist got close it separated in a white and black mist and they coalesce into two spheres a little smaller than his head. The white sphere was the ambient energy, he released his hold on it and let it dissipate. The black one, on the other hand, was the portion of Luna’s power that was corrupted and purged from her body, now with the power condensed and close to him he could identify the corruptor, it seemed Loki will have to pay a visit to  **that**  dimension.

After that Loki summoned a small crystal ball the size of a marble in a ripple of light, trapped the black sphere of corrupted seidr in the crystal, then he sent it back to his pocket dimension in another ripple of light. Then he flew out of the castle and spotted a ravine. He landed on the bottom of the ravine and saw a cave with a tree made of crystal with the inner sigils of his granddaughter and Twilight on it.

To most beings, it was a beautiful tree but to Loki who was capable of perceiving many dimensions at once, although not as many and not as far as Heimdall, this tree was a pillar holding the dimensional walls of Statera and the conduit of its Dimensional Lord, in this case, Lady.

“Hello Harmonia,” said Loki with a friendly tone and smile.

The tree gave a faint pulse of light and clink of crystal.

“I know, it is good to see you too, even if you are without a physical body at the moment,” said Loki.

*pulse*

“Yeah, I met your chosen champions,” said Loki.

*Pulse*

“No, I haven’t talked with Gaea in a while. Why?” asked Loki curiously.

*hum*

Loki just raised an eyebrow at the answer but shrugged.

“Why you never told me?” asked Loki in a serious tone.

*pulse* *hum*

“Don’t play coy with me, why you never told me about our child?” asked Loki.

*hum* *pulse*

“I see, so I couldn’t have known... Thank you,” said Loki before turned around and prepared himself to fly.

*hum*

“Maybe another day,” said Loki before he flew to the top of the ravine.

Since Loki was nearby he might as well visit Ponyville, so he walked through the forest. This place reminded him of how Fenrir liked to run through Jarnvid, the Ironwood Forest, but those were happier times now Fenrir was chained in Varinhem, at least Loki can visit him and he taught a few things that might be useful to his son.

Even Loki's grandsons Hati and Skoll, two of Fenrir’s many pups, who were near their father only to defend him, were punished to chase the sun and moon of Asgard endlessly until Ragnarok, but Loki wouldn't let his grandsons suffer that fate so he taught them how to escape their punishment and keep the sun and moon in the right tracks. Fenrir was so reckless when it comes to his pups, at this point most wolves in the forest of Variheim and Jarnvid were his, and by extension Loki’s, descendants.

Loki came back to reality when he saw a house carved in a tree in the middle of the forest and intrigued by the tribal decoration he decided to knock on the door. The one who opened the door was a zebra with a black and white mohawk, cyan eyes and stylise sun for an inner sigil, she also had two golden rings on her ears as earrings and many more around her neck and left foreleg.

“Do my eyes deceive me, is an alicorn that I see?” asked Zecora and Loki just raised an eyebrow at her speech pattern but said nothing. Then Zecora said before she motioned for him to enter, “How rude of me, might I offer some tea? Dear guest at my door please excuse the decor, I was very surprised but it’s no excuse to not be civilized.”

“Interesting home, you must be Zecora, the ponies in Ponyville spoke of a zebra living in the forest, I’m Loki by the way,” said Loki introducing himself.

“<A fellow speaker of my native tongue, I didn’t expect to find another so far away from Zebrica,>” said Zecora in her native language.

“So you only rhyme in other languages? Also, I don’t speak your language, the ones that heard what I say will hear it in their mother tongue,” asked Loki as Zecora gave him a cup of tea.

“<Well, it’s a side effect of the spell that translates my speech. I have a very strong accent when I try to speak in Modern Equestrian for myself and I sometimes get the words and/or syntax wrong. But I still train my Modern Equestrian when I can,>” said Zecora as Loki tried the tea.

“Intriguing situation, sorry to bother you like this I was just curious about this house and the shaman who lives here,” said Loki.

“<Is that so? At least I can communicate with the ponies here in Equestria. So, who exactly are you Mr Loki?>” said Zecora.

“Haven’t heard of me yet, I’m sure the whole country heard of me at this point,” said Loki surprised by the fact that she didn't know.

“<Sadly no, I rarely leave the forest and when I leave it's just to buy what I need in Ponyville and I’m not the type to normally stay and listen to gossip,>” said Zecora.

“Well then, allow me to introduce myself, I’m Loki, the princesses’ grandmother,” said Loki.

“<Day-Bringer and Dream-Walker, But how->” before she could ask the question a shimmer of light enveloped Loki and when it disappeared Loki was revealed in the form of a mare, “<Oh… that’s how.>”

They were interrupted by a knock on the door when Zecora opened it revealed Apple Bloom.

“Hey Zecora,” said Apple Bloom.

“<Apple Bloom, it seems I lost track of time. Sorry, Mr...Ms Loki but it looks like we will have to talk another day,>”said Zecora leaving Apple Bloom confused as she didn’t know Zebrican.

“I don’t mind, we can talk another day but only if you make more of this tea it’s a wonderful blend,” said Loki.

“<Thank you, it’s my own recipe,>” said Zecora.

“Apple Bloom,” said Loki as she walked out of Zecora’s hut.

“Hi there Ms Loki, Ah’m interrupting something important?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Not at all, Zecora just lost track of time, but she is ready for your lesson, have fun,” said Loki to Apple Bloom.

“Come back any time, our talk was simply sublime, if you don’t mind my rhymes or walking through the forest’s vines,” said Zecora in Modern Equestrian.

Loki left the two to their lesson and resume her walk toward Ponyville. When she emerged from the Everfree Forest she spotted Fluttershy near a hut with many animals of many shapes and sizes, as she approached some animals noted her presence and warned Fluttershy, who turned to face Loki.

“Oh my, I wasn’t expecting visitors, Your Highness,” said Fluttershy quietly, or normal volume to her.

“I was just passing by and saw you and this hut surrounded by many creatures, I so got curious,” said Loki.

As Loki finished her phrase a white bunny hopped in front of her, it gave a mean look only for her to just raised an eyebrow, after this little exchange Fluttershy picked up the bunny.

“Now now Angel be nice, she is also a guest and a friend,” said Fluttershy to the bunny named Angel as Loki frowned.

“<Do you have a problem with me?>” asked Angel in a rude tone.

“I have no problem with you, it’s just that your name has a very different meaning to me,” said Loki to Angel.

“<Wait, you can understand me?>” asked Angel in his own language.

“Wait, you can understand him?” asked Fluttershy at the same time as Angel.

“Yes I can, after everything I told you about me and my children are you really that surprised?” asked Loki as she extended her right foreleg and used her hoof to gently scratch Angel behind the ear.

“No, I suppose not. Would you like to come in?” asked Fluttershy.

“That would be lovely,” said Loki as she stopped petting Angel, much to his disappointment.

Once inside Loki made herself comfortable on the couch while Angel nuzzled one of Loki’s foreleg as she laid there waiting for Fluttershy.

“Oh my, I never saw him take a shine to anypony like this,” said Fluttershy bringing a small tray of snacks and tea.

“It’s not his fault that he has a strong personality,” said Loki knowing how difficult it was to deal with someone like that, but Angel seemed to take this as a compliment by the way he puffed his chest.

“Earlier you said that Angel’s name had a very different meaning to you, could you explain? If you don’t mind?” asked Fluttershy using her normal, to her, voice.

“<Yeah, I’m also curious about that little fact,>” said Angel.

“Angels are a divine race similar to the Asgardians. There are two types of angels. The angels from Heaven are the servants of a god named Yahweh, they have an unwavering devotion to their creator and master and follow his will almost fanatically, many of those that refused fell from grace and some became demons. The angels of Heven are from an almost all female warrior race, they are greedy, nihilistic, materialistic, somewhat hedonistic and are willing to do anything for the right price, they serve mostly themselves. Also in ancient times, the angels of Heven were at war with the Æsir and Vanir,” explained Loki.

Now Angel felt some form of pride knowing that his name was also the name of two badasses warrior races that fought against demons and gods, while Fluttershy didn’t know what to think.

After that Loki just spent time with her and got to know her animal friends, unlike what others think they are quite intelligent and Loki lost track of time while conversing with all of them.

It was only when the moon was high in the sky that Loki said her farewells, much to the sadness of Angel, and got back to Canterlot.

**Canterlot Castle, present time**

That was an interesting day, as Loki was walking through the castle’s hallways looking for Luna when he felt a second shift on the dimensional walls, however this time it was more subtle like a pulse instead of a tremor and concentrating on the pulse he found a message from a certain Elder, then somepony called him.

“Grampa! Wait,” said a familiar voice.

Loki looked behind him and as expected he was greeted by a familiar pink alicorn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Marvel all gods can speak a language that can be understood by all mortals and gods alike, it called All-tongue or All-speak.  
> When a god speaks everyone will hear his voice in their native language and the god will understand everyone regardless of the language spoken, the only exception to this are very few magical languages or methods of communication so different and alien that not even a god can understand. Those are normally on the category of Eldritch Abominations.


	21. Trip

Princess Cadence was an alicorn pony with pink coat, magenta eyes and a mane and tail with hues of dark pink, purple and pale gold that ended in curls.

Loki met Cadence on breakfast the day after his investigation, he was quite surprised by the fact that she was once a mortal, and as far as he knew without divine heritage, who manages to achieve the status of a demigoddess, again as far as he knew.

Loki learned that Celestia adopted her as a niece once she became an alicorn at a young age, before that she was an orphan on a small village close to the border of Equestria, because of that she is very open to the idea of having a family, especially considering that her wedding will happen in a few days.

When Cadence met Loki she immediately started to call him grandpa, or grandma as she didn’t seem to have a problem with his inconsistent gender, actually the changing gender seemed to excite her for some reason.

Cadence was the type of pony who cherished family very much and that was why Loki liked her. She liked to create meaningful connections with said family, in this case, Loki was like a grandparent to her, even if technically he was her great-grandfather/great-grandmother by adoption.

“Yes, Cadence?” asked Loki.

“Have you seen Twilight? I wanted to give her the good news personally,” said Cadence.

“You just missed her, she and Moon Dancer are on their way to Ponyville,” said Loki.

“Ponyfeathers, every time she is in Canterlot we miss each other for some reason,” said Cadence.

“Maybe it’s the result of some cosmic force, but at least she will have quite a surprise when she receives the invitation,” said Loki as he discreetly looked at me, the author, when he mentioned a “cosmic force”.

“Yeah, I wish I could see her face,” said Cadence while giggling.

Before Loki could say anything else he was interrupted by the arrival of Shining Armor, Cadence's soon to be husband, a white unicorn with a blue mane and an athletic physique, as expected of the Capitan of the Royal Guard.

“Hi there luv, I just saw Twily exiting the castle when I was coming here, did you tell her the news?” said Shining Armor after kissing Cadence.

“No, I just missed her,” said Cadence.

“She's not gonna be happy to discover by letter,” said Shining to Cadence before bowing to Loki, “Your Highness.”

“Shining Armor,” said Loki with a tone of indifference.

“Come on grandpa, he is going to be your great-grandson-in-law, at least make an effort to know him,” said Cadence while Shining got a little nervous, kinda like the stories he heard from the other guards, the moment when your marefriend want you to spend some time with her parents, only in this case it was worse because instead of parents he has to deal with a great-grandparent, who was a powerful alien deity.

“It's not that I have something against him, it’s just what the impression I got from him reminds me of,” said Loki as Cadence and Shining expressed their confusion by tilting their heads slightly, it was an adorable sight.

“He is a shining example of a warrior that fights for his realm, it reminds me too much of my adopted brothers,” said Loki.

Cadence giggled a little at the pun with Shining’s name before saying, “Then you have nothing to worry about, outside of being a captain he can be quite adorkable just like his sister, he has quite a passion for board games and comics and that’s not even mentioning his favorite toy-” but she was interrupted by Shining casting a silencing spell on her.

“Ok dear I think it’s enough, I’m sure Your Highness is quite busy,” said Shining trying to get out of there with Cadence only for both of them to be grabbed by Loki’s magic.

“Actually, I’m quite interested now,” said Loki.

On the way to Luna’s chamber they traded embarrassing stories, Cadence’s were about Shining Armor and Loki’s were about Thor. By the time they were about to reach Luna’s chamber, Shining Armor was blushing and trying in vain to hide under his helmet.

“...and his idea for a date was to invite me to his house for a little role-playing and not the kinky kind, he wanted to play O&O(Ogres & Oubliettes),” said Cadence.

“There this one time Thor lost his hammer and the giant that manage to hide it wanted a bride so the plan was Thor would put a wedding dress and pretend to be the bride to find his hammer,” said Loki.

“I don’t know about your brother but I bet Shining here would look great in a wedding dress,” said Cadence much to the horror of Shining Armor.

“Not only that but I bet he would look great as a mare,” said Loki as Shining was thinking that maybe it was not too late to bail out.

“Do you want me to teach a gender changing spell?” asked Loki.

“Nah, I know that there are at least two of those are in the library,” said Cadence.

“Cadence!!” shouted Shining Armor and Cadence just gave an innocent look while fluttering her eyelashes at him, it was a strange combination of sexy and cute that left him without an argument.

“What’s the matter Shining? We are just talking, besides I bet you would look cute as a mare,” said Cadence.

“I will not look cute,” said Shining with the typical male pride not realizing the trap he just fell into.

“So you prefer sexy than,” said Cadence.

“That’s not what I mean, it’s just- I give up,” said Shining trying to defend himself only to give up, not only trying to avoid making a fool out of himself but also because once Cadence has her mind on something there was almost nothing he can do about it.

“At least you got yourself a smart one Cadence. Maybe after your honeymoon, I will spend some time with Shining here,” said Loki.

“Thank you, grandpa, you don’t know what this means to me,” said Cadence before hugging Loki.

Cadence let go of Loki and said her farewell as they arrived at the entrance to Luna’s chambers because he needed to talk to Luna about something very important. Then he knocked on the door and waited for a response after a minute or two Luna opened the door. It looked like Luna just woke up, which was very likely since she slept mostly during the day.

“Luna we need to talk,” said Loki with a serious tone.

“Please come in then,” said Luna.

Once inside Luna put two large cushions for them to lay on near the fireplace.

“What do you need to talk about, grandfather?” asked Luna.

Instead of answering a ripple appears in the air near Loki and when it disappears it left a small black marble.

“Do you recognize this?” asked Loki.

Luna just looked at the marble feeling a somewhat familiar presence, after looking hard enough an image formed on her mind.

“What that thing is doing here?!” shouted Luna as she recoiled at the sight of the marble.

“So at least you recognize it,” said Loki.

“You didn’t answer my question, grandfather. What is Nightmare Moon doing here?” asked Luna.

“There is no Nightmare Moon here, this is your power no matter how tainted and corrupted, it still is your power,” said Loki.

“No, that is a parasite and the reason why I was banished,” said Luna.

“As long as you deny that part of yourself you will never unlock your full potential,” said Loki as he got up and store the marble in his dimensional vault once again.

“That thing is not a part of my being and I refuse to believe that,” said Luna.

“As long as you are unwilling to listen there is no point in me telling you what you need to do. There is also another thing I need to tell you, I’m leaving for-” Loki was saying before he was interrupted by Luna.

“What?! Is this because of the argument?” said Luna feeling great sadness.

“Let me finish, I'm leaving only for a few days, unfortunately, I won’t be present for the rehearsal, if everything goes according to the plan I should be here in the day of the wedding,” said Loki.

“Oh, Cadence will be sad to hear that, I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions,” said Luna as her ears folded back.

“It wasn’t my intention to make you think I would leave over an argument,” said Loki as he used his wings to hug the smaller alicorn.

“May I ask why are you leaving?” asked Luna.

“You may,” said Loki

It took a second for Luna to realize what happened and when she did she giggled while nuzzling her grandfather, how she missed moments like this, just simple family interactions.

“Why are you leaving?” asked Luna feeling better now.

“I’m going to pay a visit to the Collector, who is a fellow Elder because I just received a message that he has an item I was looking for,” said Loki.

“What does he collect?” asked Luna still in Loki’s embrace.

“Just about everything from artifacts, samples, documents to living specimens and so on, he has the biggest collection of items in the universe,” said Loki.

“I would like to see such a collection,” said Luna.

Letting go of Luna he walked out of her room, he wanted to talk about Nightmare before leaving, but it seems now he has to leave this talk to after the wedding.

Going to the library, where Celestia was taking a few books for a school lesson.

“Celestia,” said Loki.

“Grandfather, is there anything you need or are you searching for a specific book?” asked Celestia.

“No I came here to tell you that I will be leaving for a few days but I should be here in time for the wedding,” said Loki.

“I see, where are you going?” asked Celestia.

“To meet a fellow Elder in a station called Knowhere,” said Loki.

“Good luck and bring us souvenirs,” said Celestia.

“That is going to be difficult seeing as Knowhere is a station used mostly to deal with items from the black market,” said Loki.

“Now I’m afraid to ask what you are going to get,” said Celestia nervously.

“Then don’t ask. Do you know where Cadence is?” said Loki.

“She is in the garden with Shining Armor and also good luck grandfather,” said Celestia.

“Thank you, see you in a few days,” said Loki before hugging her.

Loki let go of her and he teleported to the garden where he saw Cadence snuggling with Shining Armor, without armor, in the shade of a tree. Loki approached them, Shining tensed but Candace didn’t even bother to move.

“You seem to have made yourself comfortable there,” said Loki.

“Shining here is such a good body pillow,” said Cadence before kissing Shining on the cheek, then she asked, “wanna try?”

“Maybe another day, most of the time I prefer bigger stallions anyway,” said Loki as he looked at Shining Armor who was shifting uncomfortably but sigh in relief at Loki’s answer.

“Not to be rude grampa but with your size, it will be quite a challenge to find such a stallion,” said Cadence.

“Maybe I should bring Svadilfari here some day,” said Loki to himself.

“Svadilfari?” asked Cadence.

“Sleipnir’s father,” said Loki.

“So you are really the princesses’ grandmother?” asked Shining.

“And your point is?” asked Loki.

“You know what? At this point it doesn’t shock me anymore,” said Shining.

“Anyway I came to tell you that I will be leaving for a few days, I won’t be here for the rehearsal but I should be here for the wedding,” said Loki.

“Do you really have to?” asked Cadence a little sad.

“I’m going to visit a fellow Elder and it’s a very important business,” said Loki.

“Elder?” asked Shining Armor.

“Don’t worry about it, I will explain later,” said Cadence.

“Good luck with the rehearsal,” said Loki.

“Good luck with your business,” said Cadence as she got up and hugged Loki.

After their farewells, Loki made a portal and walked through.

**Asgard dining room in the palace**

Thor was enjoying a feast with his friends and family, it was a rare occasion for Odin to spend time with them outside of the role as ruler, especially after Thor and his brothers became adults.

Such a shame that the whole family wasn’t here, Tyr and Hermod were on missions, Vidar no longer lived in the palace since he went to live with his wife near the forest, he always wanted a simple life.

Only Balder was on the place for this occasion, after the feast they all shared tales of their adventures, Thor told them of his many missions with the Avengers and they were close to locating the Chitauri Scepter.

The conversation was interrupted by an Einherjar opening the door.

“My King, Heimdall requests your presence,” said the Einherjar.

“Did he said for what purpose?” said Odin as he got up and extended his hand and summon Gungnir from the other end of the room.

“He said prince Loki has left Sattheim,” said the Einherjar.

“I’m going as well father,” said Thor and Balder at the same time.

Thor summoned Mjolnir and followed his father and behind him was Balder, the Warriors Three, Lady Sif and his mother.


	22. Opportunity

**Asgard, Himinbjorg, at the Bifrost edge**

Odin arrived and dismounted from Sleipnir, behind him was his wife Frigga in her battle armor and on her chariot pulled by two gray great felines, Bygul and Trjegul, each almost the size of a horse and with fangs big enough to show even when their mouths were closed, her favorite pets, mortals would compare them to saber-tooth tigers.

On her chariot riding with her was Balder, Sif and Fandral, all three ready for battle, just behind them came Volstagg and Hogun along with Thor, also in his own chariot being pulled by two giant white goats each bigger than a horse and almost the size of Sleipnir, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr, ferocious flesh-eating goats that accompany Thor into battle and also his favorite pets.

All of them came ready for battle because if Loki left Sattheim either some outside force interfered or the spell that keeps him there was no longer working, the former was very unlikely while the latter was very worrying, he either broke the spell himself without Odin noticing, found a loophole that Odin didn’t notice or fulfilled the requirements to end his banishment, if the requirements were fulfilled before or after said banishment was up for debate.

While Loki was always unpredictable Odin had experience in dealing with him, so he could always make a good guess of what Loki would do, but after what he learned on Jotunheim that no longer applied, it seemed that through his hardships Loki managed to escape from the role imposed upon him by Those-Who-Sit-Above-In-Shadow. To fight against them was like a chest piece fighting against the player, every occasion that their attention on Odin wavered for less than a blink of an eye was an opportunity for him to scheme against them, but every time he had to bury those plans so deep in his mind that not even himself would remember them.

It has been like this since the cycles began, every time Odin was given the knowledge of what was to come, they revealed themselves to him and they played this “game”, a game that Odin never won, while all Asgardians were forced to “play their roles”.

Odin’s attention was on Heimdall when he entered the gatehouse.

“Where is he now?” asked Odin unceremoniously.

“Flying through the cosmos,” answered Heimdall.

“Was the spell broken or tampered with?” asked Odin.

“No My King, he just created a portal and left,” said Heimdall.

“Can you tell where he is going?” interjected Frigga as she stood beside her husband.

“Yes My Queen, I believe he is going to Knowhere to meet with someone,” said Heimdall.

“Do you know who?” asked Balder as he and the others listened.

“I can only guess, but recently in that place, I saw the Collector and the Power Gem,” said Heimdall.

“Father, what we should do?” asked Balder to Odin

“Isn’t it obvious Balder, we intercept him and bring him back,” said Thor before Odin could answer Balder's question.

“Not now Thor,” said Balder.

“Nothing, if he manages to leave then he can come and go as he pleases, he always did that, it seems he just stopped bothering to hide his escapades, you can meet with him if you want, but do so at your own peril,” said Odin before giving a order to Heimdall, “keep me informed of his movements.”

“As you wish, My King,” said Heimdall.

Seeing that his paranoia was unwarranted Odin turned around and made his way to Sleipnir.

“Do you want to go and see him now?” asked Odin to Sleipnir.

Sleipnir just neighed and shook his head as if saying “not now”.

“Very well then,” said Odin as he mounted Sleipnir.

“Are you coming too, Frigga?” asked Odin.

“I will wait for Thor and Balder’s departure, we both know they will go out after Loki,” said Frigga.

Wordlessly Odin turned Sleipnir around and rode to the palace while Frigga stayed at the gatehouse.

“I’m going to see how Loki is doing, who wants to go with me?” asked Thor.

“I’m going as well brother, he is my brother as well,” said Balder.

“We shall accompany you as well, just to make sure that snake doesn’t do anything it shouldn’t,” said Sif.

“He was once our friend as well,” said Fandral while Hogun nodded hesitantly.

“Besides I never tried any food from Knowhere,” said Volstagg.

“Shall I prepare the Bifrost, Prince Thor?” asked Heimdall.

“Nay, we won’t need it since we can use my chariot, besides Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr need some exercise,” said Thor as he willed his chariot to expand in order to accommodate these many people. A gift from the dwarves of Nidavellir, a chariot capable of folding and unfolding itself as its owner pleased.

“Good Luck my sons, come back home safely,” said Frigga as they climbed on the chariot.

“Thank you mother,” said Thor.

“Is there anything you want us to say to Loki?” asked Balder.

“Just tell him that I am thankful for his protection during the Malekith’s invasion and that I love him,” said Frigga.

“We will mother,” said Balder as Thor used the reins for the chariot to move forward.

As the chariot passed the edge of the Bifrost the goats continued galloping on the void and not long after they left the realm of Asgard.

**Knowhere, near the Collector’s sector**

As Loki, in his male Æsir form wearing a long black cloak, walked through the station made on the severed head of a Celestial he heard the customers gossiping about the defeat of a member of the Accuser Corp from the Kree Empire by the Nova Corp on Xandar and the newly dubbed Guardians of the Galaxy. As he approached the Collector’s sector he saw that the doors were busted and there was no attendant nearby, which was strange since the Collector was the type to keep up appearances, mostly.

Entering the “museum” he saw the Collector being consoled by Cosmo, a dog with telepathic and telekinetic powers wearing a spacesuit –who was also the director and chief of security of this station– surrounded by his destroyed collection and with an anthropomorphic duck with a suit drinking a glass of something while sitting on one of the broken displays.

“Let me guess, a bad deal,” said Loki.

Howard the Duck just turned his head while Cosmo whipped around ready for a fight since very few beings could avoid being detected by his mind and senses.

“So you came. Yeah, you could say that, sorry for the lack of decor,” said the Collector while looking at Loki.

Seeing that the Collector wasn’t worrying then that meant that the new visitor wasn’t an enemy, but that didn't mean it was safe, what an Elder considered safe could be hazardous to most sentient beings, after all not even destruction of planetary scale bothered them.

Snapping his finger Loki used a combination of seidr and cosmic energy to engulf the whole sector in his hold, all objects started to float back to its proper place, fragments of display boxes fused back and soon enough the place was fixed, but the Collector was still depressed.

“I doubt it's the destruction of this collection that got you this depressed because you could have this place fixed just as easily. So, what happen?” asked Loki as he stood beside the depressed Elder.

“Come on Cosmo, I think we better leave,” said Howard.

“Agreed,” said Cosmo using telepathy, his “voice” having a strong Russian accent.

After the duck and the dog left the Collector got up and started to walk, Loki followed him until they reached a balcony overlooking Taneleer’s collection.

Taneleer Tivan snapped his fingers and a small circular table and two chairs made of silver hard light appeared facing his collection.

The Collector sat on the left and motioned for Loki to sit, Loki sat on the right and both of them enjoyed the silence for a while.

“Any preference on beverages at the moment?” asked the Collector.

“No, but feel free to surprise me,” said Loki and not long after he finished his phrase a small floating drone in the shape of a disc came with a bottle of wine and two plain goblets made of crystal.

“I like these goblets, they are custom made. I collected each grain of crystal from countless worlds each grain with a specific chemical composition and color. After that I took them to an artisan from a dead civilization from a planet that no longer exists, courtesy of Galactus,” said Taneleer as he held up the goblet and admired how the light reflected and refracted on its surface.

“Quite beautiful, every single molecule is in perfect alignment, but that is not what you wanted to tell me, isn’t it?” asked Loki.

“Not only that, they also enhance every aspect of the drink, but you are right. I’m just disappointed that I lost a chance to get another Infinity Gem,” said the Collector

“I’m not even going to tell you how insane that idea is because we are not exactly sane,” said Loki as he poured some wine into his goblet, after that he took a sip and said, “not bad, the flavor is quite complex, but there is too much alcohol, it doesn’t feel right.”

“You are correct Traveler, but I don’t want to enjoy the flavor, I just want to feel the buzz. Don’t worry just a bit of self-pity until I can have a new addition that interests me,” said Taneleer as he drank the content of the goblet.

“I’m surprised you didn’t have your guards with you,” said Loki as he took another sip.

“It’s part of the deal I made with Cosmo to use this section of Knowehere, he doesn’t want another military force stationed here. It would cause too much trouble, but he at least let me use automated drones,” said Taneleer as he drank another glass.

They just enjoyed the silence while drinking some wine.

*CRACK*

The silence was interrupted by the sound of something smashing against the door.

*CRACK* *THUD*

And the doors fell revealing The Warriors Three, Lady Sif, Thor with Mjolnir where the door was and Balder facepalming.

“Don’t worry brother, we shall save you from the clutches of the Collector,” said Thor.

*crack*

The sound of glass breaking was heard as the Collector tighten his grip.

“How dare you! Asgardians!!” shouted Taneleer as golden smoke like cosmic energy started to come out of his eyes.

“See, I told you that wasn’t a good idea, let me handle this,” said Balder to Thor before walking forward and bow to the Elder and say, “Please estimated Elder of the Universe forgive Thor recklessness he was ju-”.

“SILENCE!!” shouted the Collector amplifying his voice with his cosmic energy, the cosmic energy that engulfed his entire body in a golden flame-like aura.

“YOU NOT ONLY DISRESPECT ME, BUT YOU ALL DARE TO TRESPASS INTO ONE OF MY SANCTUMS, YOU WILL BECOME PART OF MY COLLECTION FOR ETERNITY!!!” said the Collector with his voice now distorted and unrecognizable.

But before Taneleer Tivan could do anything a hand was placed on his left shoulder, he turned around ready to scatter the atoms of the fool that dared to touch him, but when he saw Loki in the same state as him, the Trickster's green energy containing his golden energy.

“Calm down Taneleer, because if you don’t calm down not only your collection but this station will be destroyed as well, besides it’s the alcohol and self-loathing talking. Take a deep breath,” said Loki while using his own cosmic energy to keep his adopted brothers and their friends immobile and mute to avoid further complications.

The Collector took a deep breath and the energy around him started to fade and once it disappeared Loki did the same, but still kept his hold on the Asgardians.

“Perhaps we should conclude our negotiations. Shame our reunion had to end like this, Traveler,” said Taneleer snapping his finger, soon a drone carrying a briefcase appeared.

“Could you add something else for me?” asked Loki.

“What?” asked Taneleer.

“A bottle of wine, a present for my great-granddaughter, who is getting married,” said Loki.

“Species of the bride and groom?” asked Taneleer.

“Both are Staterians of the herbivore variety,” said Loki and Taneleer motioned for a drone to bring some items of his cellar on this station.

“Staterians are such rare specimens, I only have four members of that species on my collection, perhaps I can show you at a later date. Anyway I definitely have something, any preference?” asked Taneleer.

“Something to help them get in the mood for their first night as husband and wife,” said Loki.

“Here, consider this a payment for fixing my exhibit,” said Taneleer while giving Loki the bottle of his choosing before asking, “Do you have what we agreed on?”

A ripple of light appeared behind Loki and disappeared leaving a glass box containing a strange creature that looked like a giant fish-like creature with a mouth, two eyes and many tentacles.

“Here you go, until next time Taneleer,” said Loki while storing the bottle of wine and the briefcase in his pocket dimension.

“It is beautiful, until next time Lorkhan,” said Taneleer.

“I haven’t used that name in centuries, now if you don’t mind I will be taking these unwanted guests with me,” said Loki snapping his fingers and fixing the broken glass.

“Yes,yes,yes,” said Taneleer absently in a hurried but dismissive tone and without turning from his newest addition.

The Asgardians were thrown out of the Collector’s exhibit by Loki before walking into a nearby alley.

Thor immediately got up and followed Loki, only to find him in front of a stall that was selling food and drinks with seven seats before a counter. Balder and Thor’s friends were right behind the Thunderer, without looking Loki motioned for them to sit on the available stools. Balder sat at Loki’s right and Thor at Loki’s left, at Thor’s left sat Sif, Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg in that order.

“So what can I get for you all? It's rare for me to have a ‘full counter’,” said a humanoid female with purple hair and ears that strangely reminded the Asgardians of a light elf, but the metal grafted on her chin and beneath her left eye.

“Seven ‘viper poisons’ for now,” said Loki and not long after seven mugs were served for them. Then Loki said to Thor, “Also, Thor if you want more just ask, don’t break the mug.”

“So Loki how was your time in Sattheim?” asked Balder as he took a sip of this “viper poison” and he liked, not much when it comes to taste but it had quite an unexpected “punch”.

“Had a great time and I was going to make a few trades with Taneleer, but thanks to this buffoon here I lost that opportunity, so I just picked what I came here for and now I have two or three days of free time,” said Loki before drinking the whole glass in a single go.

Thor got a little sad at Loki’s statement so he drank the “viper poisons” as he would mead, which wasn’t a good idea if you were a lightweight since this drink was stronger than the average Asgardian mead, it was just enough for Thor to feel the difference.

“Wow, brother you really know where to find a good drink,” said Thor shaking his head to get his balance back.

Unsurprisingly Volstagg ordered at least one of each item of the menu and was drinking, Hogun and Sif just kept looking at their mugs suspiciously while Fandral, like Balder, was taking sips of his drink.

“First time drinking ‘viper poisons’, huh? Where are you from?” asked the bartender.

“Yes and we are from Asgard my lady,” said Fandral.

“Asgardians hah. Quite rare to see one of your kind here and a little old-fashioned for my taste,” said the bartender.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why you don’t look like just a bartender?” asked Fandral.

“I’m also a mechanic on the hangar over here,” said the bartender while pointing behind her, referring to the building, before continuing, “cooking and making drinks is a hobby I indulge when I have free time and no customers, so if you need a spaceship repaired you know where to look, I also have good prices for parts.”

“Don’t get too comfortable, you all cost me a great business opportunity. I have a lot of frustration to unleash, so after drinking we are going a few rounds in the arena,” said Loki.

“Yes! A glorious battle after drinking, then after that more drinking!” said Thor after drinking his third mug while Balder facepalmed, again.

“Ooh yes, I can’t wait to pound that smile out of your face,” said Loki as he finished his mug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lorkhan is just a reference to a god of the same name in the Elder Scrolls series, besides its just an alias for Loki. Traveler is also a reference to a shapeshifting god worshipped on D&D:Eberron. Both of them are hints for some of my future plans.  
> Sorry about the minor inconsistency on the chariot of Freya/Frigga, in some depiction the felines are saber-tooth and in others not, but that's the best image of her in her chariot I could find.
> 
> If you are curious about the names:  
> Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr can be translated as Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder, the translated name are their actual names in the comics.  
> Bygul and Trjegul can be translated as Golden Bee(honey) and Golden Tree(amber), they are mostly described as Giant Norwegian Forest cats that may or may not be saber-tooth.


	23. Bets

After finishing and paying for the drinks and food, Loki led the unexpected visitors to an arena in Knowhere, not the most elaborate one but one that is sturdy enough that it can handle a fight between two Asgardians.

“Two contestants,” said Loki to the attendant of the arena, a floating squid-like creature of unknown gender with many tentacles and two of those tentacles mimicking hands.

“Names?” asked the attendant in a bored tone and without looking away from the console.

“Lorkhan the Traveler and Thor the Thunderer,” said Loki.

That got the attention of the attendant, Thor of Asgard was known throughout the galaxy and beyond for his mighty strength and willingness to battle while Lorkhan the Traveler was an explorer that did a little bit of everything including fighting once in awhile, he might not be known for his battle prowess but he still a Elder of the Universe, one of the most powerful and oldest beings in the in the cosmos. The only other names more famous in the fighting circuit were the Champion for the fights and Grandmaster for his bets and both of them were Elders of the Universe as well.

“Proof of identity?” asked the attendant in a professional but intrigued tone.

Thor just showed his Mjolnir making sure the runic scripture was visible and Loki just summoned the Crown of Lies and a small white marble of unknown material.

“Lord Traveler! It’s been centuries since we last heard of you in the fighting circuit,” said the attendant excitedly.

“Just busy with other projects,” said Loki.

“To the death? And with or without weapons?” asked the attendant.

“Until one of us forfeit or gets knocked out, as for weapons,” said Loki before looking at Mjolnir before adding, “with weapons, don’t worry we brought our own.”

The attendant nodded and pressed a button, not long after a silver alien appeared and they almost confused her for a robot if not for the fact that they felt life force coming from her –they assumed it was a she.

“Take the contestants to the locker room and the others to the VIP area,” said the attendant.

The Ataraxian(silver alien) lead Thor and Loki to the locker room with the others following.

“Do the contestants require anything else?” asked the Ataraxian.

“No, that will be all,” said Loki.

Loki and Thor entered the locker room while the others went to the VIP area.

“You have been strangely quiet,” said Loki.

“I’m trying to figure out what is your plan, brother,” said Thor.

“No plan, even I like to brawl sometimes,” said Loki.

“That’s so unlike you,” said Thor.

“As far as you know,” said Loki.

The last comment really impacted on Thor’s views, he really didn't know his brother as well as he thought he knew.

“What now?” asked Thor.

“Now we wait,” said Loki.

**VIP area**

Balder, Sif, Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun sat on the armchairs reserved for VIPs.

“I don’t like this,” said Hogun.

“You never like anything,” said Fandral amicably.

“At least they have food that I have never seen before,” said Volstagg as a tray of food was brought by a female attendant, a human-like alien with red skin and purple hair.

“Why did you think Thor accepted Loki’s offer?” asked Sif while ignoring Volstagg appetite.

“Maybe he thinks that is a good way to try to understand this new Loki,” said Balder as he thought about his brothers.

“Why you are not worried. For all we know this is some elaborate scheme to kill Thor or worst,” said Sif.

“You always presume the worst when it comes to Loki, is this because he cut your hair when we were younger?” asked Balder.

“That has nothing to do with it, he is not only a snake but also a father of monsters and he will bring Ragnarok upon us one day,” said Sif with venom in her voice at the memories of her once golden hair.

“Yet she feels triggered when we mention the ‘hair incident’,” whispered Fandral to Volstagg.

“What was that?” asked Sif looking at Fandral.

“Nothing!” said Fandral too quickly for Sif taste.

“Prophecies have a strange way of becoming true, it’s pointless to fight against it, as for his children it’s not their fault but at least they are true to themselves,” said Balder.

“It doesn’t change the fact they are monsters, born out of the Deceiver's evil,” said Sif.

“Evil according to who? I at least tried to reason with them, Fenrir while bloodthirst is not mindless and he cares for his pack, Hela ensures the rest for the innocents and punishment for the wicked and Jormungand is quite intelligent and educated, despite being a giant snake,” said Balder.

“But they are still harbingers of Ragnarok,” commented Hogun.

“Ragnarok is inevitable, besides they are too complacent in their prisons, either because they know they will get out or they already found a way out,” speculated Balder with a serious tone.

“You are not suggesting that they can free themselves at any moment, are you?” asked Fandral in disbelief.

“Worst, I think they are already free, we were just too blind to see or something made us think that they are still there,” answered Balder.

“But that means tha–” Sif was interrupted by the door of the VIP area opening and two people coming in.

“Oh, you are still here,” said the Collector in a disappointed tone and as he went to his seat while his companion, a blue-skinned humanoid with yellow and black clothes, looked at the Asgardians.

This was En Dwi Gast, also know as the Grandmaster, an Elder of the Universe.

“Don’t be so depressed brother, we came to see the Traveler fight, it’s not every day he does that and he has such interesting and creative ways of using his powers,” said En Dwi.

“It may be so, but still I’m not in the mood to deal with Asgardians at the moment. However I will take great pleasure in seeing the Thunderer be beaten and humiliated for disrespecting my collection,” said Taneleer.

“Now that’s the spirit, I didn’t teleport to this side of the Milky Way just to see you depressed, so let’s just sit back and enjoy the show,” said En Dwi as he sat beside his brother.

**On the arena**

The announcer was a bald red-skinned alien that looked similar to a human, he was standing on a platform floating over the arena.

“Visitors and spectators from all over the galaxy, we interrupted our normal schedule to have a special contest today, because we just received two new entries for this arena, but these aren’t the normal everyday fighter that came here to beat each other senselessly. No, these two are warriors of the highest caliber,” said the announcer while transmitting on all frequencies to the entire galaxy.

“Before we announce who they are, we would like to thank the Elders, Collector and Grandmaster, who graced us with their presence here today,” said the announcer gesturing to the VIP area, while the Elders in question didn’t even react to this announcement.

“Now for the spectacle promised today, on one side we have the hammer-wielding warrior, a Son of Asgard, Thor the Thunderer!!!” shouted the announcer.

Thor walked into the arena holding his Mjolnir high as the crowd cheered, while in the VIP area the Collector was starting to emanate cosmic energy.

“Calm down brother, he may be the son of that one-eyed brat, but he still just an Asgardian, how about a bet?” asked En Dwi trying to distract Teneleer.

“What are you willing to bet, brother?” asked Taneleer after calming down and dissipating his cosmic energy. Snapping his fingers a datapad appeared in his hand, scrolling through the inventory of his collections, while En Dwi did the same.

“How about the last star of your home galaxy, the same one you lost to me a few million years ago?” asked En Dwi.

“Add an inhuman dire wraith specimen and I will bet this,” said Teneeler showing the latest addition of his collection.

“Is that a Ul'lula'ns? Where you found such specimen?” asked En Dwi with a surprised but amused tone.

“I acquired it recently in a trade with the Traveler, they are very difficult to find, even when they don’t use their shapeshifting powers,” explained Taneleer.

While the ‘bet’ was being discussed Sif clenched her fist, it was simply disgusting the way they dealt with each other using sentient beings as currency. She never liked slavery, to begin with, but even slaves have a purpose, those, on the other hand, did not and were no different than a piece of art to be exposed and looked at, such existence was just as bad as the shore of corpses on Niflheim.

“Calm down Sif, we don’t want to cause any more trouble,” whispered Balder.

“So the terms have been set, now I bet that the Traveler will give up in the end,” said En Dwi to Taneleer.

“I bet he will defeat the Thunderer,” said Taneleer to En Dwi.

“Loki defeating Thor, impossible,” snorted Sif.

“Are you willing to make a bet?” asked En Dwi now looking at Sif and smirking.

Before Sif could say anything Balder interjected, “No Lord En Dwi Gast, we are here just to watch, nothing else.”

“Always the polite one, Balder,” said En Dwi in an almost disappointed tone that didn’t hide his amusement.

On the arena, the excitement of the crowd died down as the announcer motioned for them to calm down.

“On the other side we have a scholar of many arts, including the art of combat, he went to many places in the universe and beyond, a round of applause for an Elder of the Universe, Lorkhan the Traveler!!” shouted the announcer.

On the other side of the arena came Loki in wearing a green and gold armor with white pants.

The crowd cheer even louder than before as both contestants walked to the center of the arena.

“Before we start the fight I must warn all spectators, we have an Asgardian and a Elder fighting here, so the moment the fight starts a barrier will be placed on the arena and also this fight might last for a long time. Now to the rules, this is a fight with weapons until one of the participants forfeits or is knocked out, are the participants ready?” asked the announcer.

Thor and Loki nodded, Thor lifted Mjolnir as it sparked with electricity while Loki’s eyes lighten up with a green glow.

“FIGHT!!!” shouted the announcer as his platform floated up and an energy dome started to form on the battlefield, to make sure that the fight stayed on the floor of the arena and wouldn't hurt the spectators, that would be bad for business after all.

Thor with Mjolnir lifted tried to hit Loki on the left side of the head, but Loki bent his knees and let the hammer pass over his head, then he concentrated cosmic energy on his right knee and jumped toward Thor before the motion of the Thunderer's arm was finished.

Loki managed to knee Thor in the stomach with enough force to destroy a small moon, the shockwave of the blow felt like a hydrogen bomb, but the shield held. This arena, in particular, was one sturdy enough to handle a fight between an Eternal and a strontian.

As soon as Loki's knee hit Thor the Trickster once again gathered cosmic energy, but this time on the left hand, placing that on the right side of Thor’s ribcage, then he let go of the energy and directed to the direction his palm was facing, which caused another explosion of energy to happen and Thor was launched against the barrier.

It didn’t take long for him to get up, but he coughed blood and probably broke a rib or two.

“You were never this strong, brother,” said Thor smiling with blood coming out from the corner of his mouth.

“I wouldn’t be able to match your full physical strength, so I learned how to use mine in the most efficient way I could together with my seidr,” said Loki as he got in a stance, feet apart while his right arm was raised and left was close to the body.

Thor’s smile widened, he was happy that his brother didn’t deny him as family and the fact that he was fighting him like this. Thor loved Loki, but he couldn't never bond with him like he did his other brothers. When you grow up in a warrior culture combat was an obvious way for brothers to bond, the same could be said about fathers and sons. Fighting like this with Loki was new, but it also brought a nostalgia that reminded him of his childhood.

“Verily,” said Thor as he wiped the blood on his face and spat what was in his mouth.

Holding Mjolnir by the strap of leather on the end of the hilt Thor started to rotate it, gaining great speed as the seconds passed until it was a blur, then he launched Mjolnir at Loki, it was going at hypersonic speed as noted by the sonic boom it left behind.

With a bubble of energy engulfing each hand like gloves Loki couldn't help but smile.


	24. Repercussions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes on Asgard's geography.
> 
> Asgard(land) floats in Asgard(realm/dimension) and is about the size of North America surrounded by a sea or river with smaller islands in it and then is surrounded by a “Sea of Space” with Asgard(city) on one end of the landmass connecting to the Himinbjorg in the edge of the “Sea of Water” by the physical part of the Bifrost and the energy part connect to other realms over the “Sea of Space”, kinda like in the movie Thor from the MCU.
> 
> Asgard(land) is divided in many territories, some of which have a natural connection to other realms, such as:
> 
> Asgard(city) - Capital city, located on the "east" coast of Asgard(landmass). Obs, Asgard(city) is placed in the east coast to be analogous to New York but it can be interpreted as any cardinal direction since it's essentially a floating island.
> 
> Variheim - the territory of Fenrir on the "south" part of the continent that is connected with Jarnvid in Jotunheim.
> 
> Nornheim - an island off of the coast of Asgard(land) where the Fates live, called Norns by the Norse, Moirai by the greek, Parcae by the roman, Sudice by the Slavic and Matres by ancient Germanic. The exact location is not known, but this island is connected with the realm of other pantheons as well.
> 
> Skornheim - territory west of Asgard(city) covered in forests with mountains that separate the capital in the "east" from the swamps in the "west". There is a connection to Vanaheim somewhere here and Vidar’s house is somewhere between here and the capital.
> 
> Plains of Ida - plains in the center of the landmass "west" of Skornheim. Hlidkjalf, a tower of stone with a throne on the top and whoever sits there can see anywhere in Nine Realms. The tree of golden apples of immortality is also located somewhere here, but it's forbidden for everyone, even Odin himself, to enter in this section of Ida with the only exception being Idunn, Goddess of Immortality and the only one that can collect the apples that gives immortality to the Asgardians.
> 
> Loki’s castle - a castle not far from the west coast. Loki commands this castle and the surrounding lands and villages. There is a connection with Jotunheim somewhere in the "south" of this area.
> 
> Nastrond - a land filled with dragons "northeast" of Ida and "northwest" Loki’s territory.
> 
> The Island of Silence - an island off the coast where sound doesn’t exist, often the place to punish sorcerers.

**70 hours later**

Thor threw Mjolnir and managed to hit Loki, which sent him flying toward the barrier, but the God of Stories managed to correct his position before hitting the barrier.

When Loki's feet touched the barrier he bent his knees to absorb the impact and to launched himself at Thor and kicked him before he could recover Mjolnir.

Thor managed to raise his left arm but was pushed to the side, which caused Mjolnir to pass where Thor was before and crash onto the floor.

With Mjolnir on the ground, Loki put a spell on it to keep it in place and looked at Thor as he got up.

“Thor, I have to say that the last 70 hours had been quite cathartic, but all good things must come to an end,” said Loki.

Thor had many bruises and cuts and his chainmail was torn, but he was happy, it was a good fight.

Loki was not much better, his armor was dented and broken and he too had many bruises and cuts, but one thing that Thor noticed during the fight was that Loki’s blood was now black, as in pitch black.

Thor didn’t think much of it because it wasn't unheard of for seidr users to change their own bodies and besides he could feel a great deal of seidr in Loki's blood, the possibility that he experienced and learned so much that magic itself started to change his body was not too farfetched either.

“Tired already brother? I can keep going for a few more days even without Mjolnir,” said Thor.

“So much potential wasted,” said Loki to himself but loud enough for Thor to hear before speaking to the God of Thunder, “I know, but I don’t want to miss my great-granddaughter’s wedding, which is going to happen soon.”

Thor was prepared to fight without Mjolnir, but he was not prepared for what happened next, Loki reached out to Mjolnir and when his hand gripped the handle he managed to lift the weapon made of uru.

Golden lightning and thunder engulfed Loki and when it dissipated, there stood the God of Stories, wearing a familiar leather armor and red cape but with golden mail covering his arms and legs.

**On the VIP**

“Yes!” said the Collector as he cracked the arms of the chair he was sitting on with his grip.

“That isn’t something I get to see every day, certainly that is worth the trouble of teleporting from the other side of the galaxy to see it with my own eyes,” said the Grandmaster.

“How is that even possible?!” shouted Sif as she stood up from her chair.

Balder, while surprised didn’t let his shock interfere in his observation, at this point Heimdall probably was already informing the All-Father of this development, but he paid attention just in case.

Volstagg was so shocked that he dropped the piece of meat he was holding, Fandral gracelessly did a spit-take when he saw the event happened before his eyes and in the process wasted the wine that was offered to him, Hogun didn’t show any reaction besides breaking an arm of the chair he was sitting on.

Some of the spectators screamed in surprise, but it was for another reason. Standing in the grandstand was a giant alien with a big bald head and solid reflective eyes enigmatically and stoically gazing at the floor of the arena where the two gods were fighting.

Balder was the first of the VIP to notice the presence of the unannounced visitor and observer.

“A Watcher!” said Balder since that was a very worrying occurrence if a Watcher was here then that meant that this event will at the very least have universe-wide repercussions.

**Asgard, Himinbjorg**

Loki lifting Mjolnir and the presence of a Watcher drew a great deal of Heimdall’s attention and he immediately sent a message using the machinery of the observatory to the nearby guards on the other side of the Bifrost to inform his king of this development.

**In a dark and starless void**

A group of figures made of shadows stirred when they felt a shift of power, to them it was subtle, like the ripples in a pond after a leaf disturbed its surface.

**In Helheim**

Hela was on a cliff overlooking the souls as they journeyed to the place they were meant to be before rejoining the Great Cosmic Wheel, then suddenly Gram’s stood and she “looked” in the distance.

“Mistress…” started Gram.

“I know, I felt it too. It seems father is enjoying himself,” said Hela letting herself smile a little.

**Asgard, Forest of Variheim**

A giant pitch black wolf was sleeping when he felt it, the power of his father mixed with the Thunderer, so he lifted his head and “looked” in the direction where he felt the power coming from.

“Father what is this?” asked a giant –but not as big as Fenrir– gray wolf, followed by three other wolves of equal size, a light brown one and two white ones with the only difference being that one had blue eyes while the other had yellow eyes.

“That my sons, is your grandfather having fun,” said Fenrir as he laid on the rocky ground of Variheim with a shackle and chain made of golden silk around his left foreleg, that was Gleipnir the deceptively strong binding made by the dwarves that held Fenrir in place. That, of course, was a problem before his father taught him a few tricks.

“I feel the power of the Thunderer,” growled the gray one.

“And that is why is amusing. Tell me Hati, what is more, humiliating for a god than be defeated by your own power in front of countless mortals?” asked Fenrir without getting up.

At this point, many wolves started to come out of the woods, curious by this event.

“And since when grandfather can lift that accursed hammer?” asked the white wolf with blue eyes.

“Since when grandfather does something predictable?” asked back the white wolf with yellow eyes.

“Only when the predictable is not expected, Hoarfen,” said Fenrir to the yellow-eyed one before looking at the blue-eyed one and say, “and I don’t know Skoll, but does it really matter?”

“No, I suppose it doesn’t father,” said Skoll.

“You’re unusually quiet Hrimhari,” said Fenrir looking at the brown wolf.

“It’s nothing father, just thinking about her,” said Hrimhari as he thought about his lover on Midgard.

“Suit yourself,” said Fenrir as he went back to sleep.

**Sea of Space “around” Midgard**

Jormungand floated in the sea filled with stars devouring any creature that was in his way when he felt the shift and “looked” at the direction without changing course, which was impossible since this place is just a bit bigger than Midgard, he was like a snake in an aquarium.

“At least you are having fun,” said Jormungand to himself.

**Asgard(realm), on the other side of Asgard(land) opposite from Asgard(city) not too far from the edge**

On a fortress that once belonged to a sorcerer before he was defeated and killed by Loki. Now the new owner of this place he put a barrier to keep those inside safe from the gaze of the Shadows. The fortress itself is big enough to be considered a small city populated mostly by Loki’s servants and minions.

On the inner garden, there are two boys playing while their mother watched them. Both of them have a pair of familiar green eyes and seemed to be of the same age. While one of the twins has black hair, the other has brown almost red hair.

Suddenly all three of them stopped and looked at a particular direction.

“Mother was that…,” started the twin with brown hair, the one named Vali Lokison

“...father?” finished the twin with black hair, the one named Nari Lokison

Their mother, a beautiful woman with long light brown almost blonde hair and soft features that deceptively hide a strong and loyal warrior woman.

This was the official wife of Loki, a goddess that stayed by his side even when he tried to push her away to save her from the judgmental eyes of the Æsir, but chose to stay with him regardless. She was Sigyn and for her unwavering devotion, Odin pronounced her the Goddess of Fidelity and Loyalty.

“Indeed it was, it seems your uncle did something stupid,” said the former shieldmaiden causing the boys to giggle at their uncle's misfortune.

**Jotunheim, Jarnvid**

On this dark and enormous forest, there was a city in which the houses were built either inside or on top of the giant trees, thus concealing the city itself and its inhabitants. A city without a name of its own that was known by the name of the forest itself, Jarnvid or Iron Woods and its inhabitants didn't like outsiders no matter their species, so it was rare for them to have a visitor that they liked. Most of the inhabitants were female jotnar of any type and they live in harmony with the creatures of the forest, notably the wolves that prowl this forests, especially considering that most of them were the descendants of their chieftain, Angrboda.

Angrboda was in her home, built on the biggest three on the center of the forest, currently, she was in a conversation with another woman. She was always different from the other jotnar on this forest because unlike them she wasn’t born on Jotunheim, but she found her way here and made a home for herself and became a chieftain of this community, she even cast aside her old name before being called Angrboda. Currently, she was a tall woman with blue skin and red wild hair, but she like many sorceresses were capable of shapeshifting.

Despite looking like a jotun she was actually the daughter of Echidna, who was herself the daughter of the Elder Deities Gaea and Tartarus, and Vrykolaka the Demon Wolf, who was itself a spawn of the Elder God Chthon.

Angrboda's guest currently was a woman with dark skin and red glowing hair that resembled fire, but like Angrboda she too was a sorceress and capable of shapeshifting if she wanted.

This was Glod and she like Angrboda was a lover of Loki and also like Angrboda she had children with him. One of her daughters was a human looking young girl with dark hair and glowing orange eyes.

The second daughter had a pair of deep green eyes similar to her father and short orange reddish hair that like her mother seemed to be made out of flames.

Both girls came with their mother to visit their “aunt” Angrboda when suddenly all four of them felt a pulse of energy.

“It seems our beloved is having fun,” said Glod.

“Indeed,” answered Angrboda.

**Back on Statera**

Back on Statera, more specifically on the gardens of Canterlot a single being imprisoned inside a statue suddenly felt a ripple on the very fabric of reality. While Discord never felt something like this before the power from with the ripple originated from was alien but somehow familiar.

Luna woke from her slumber groggily looked around before shrugging and laying back down on her bed, intending to go back to her sleep and to her self-imposed punishment for allowing herself to succumb to that parasite.

Celestia was in court when she felt something, but she couldn't be sure of what it was, so she looked around and found nothing out of the ordinary. She shrugged and proceeded with the court.

On the far north of Equestria, a presence stirred under the ice and snow of the frozen tundra.

Somewhere on Equestria, a hooded figure was about to jump on an unsuspecting unicorn and drain him of his magic when he felt a ripple of power and this made him pause, which gave enough time for the unsuspecting victim to walk away none the wiser to the danger it just escaped. The centaur cursed himself for being distracted, but even so, he pondered where that ripple came from.

Even a certain pink alicorn looked around when she felt the ripple, not sure of what she just felt.

**In some unknown dimension**

Doctor Strange was also known as the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth was currently hurling bolts of magical energy at a group of demons trying to establish a foothold on this dimension so they could attack Earth in multiple fronts.

“By the Seven Suns Of Cinnibus, be purged!” shouted Doctor Strange as the light equivalent of these seven suns burned the army of lesser demons. After that, he made a portal back to the Sanctum Santorum before saying to himself, “Just another day as the Sorcerer Supreme.”

As he stepped into his home he was greeted by his servant and longtime friend Wong.

“Welcome back Doctor,” said Wong.

“Hello Wong, It’s been a long day. Could you make some jasmine tea?” asked Stephen before he started to float in the lotus position.

“Certainly, I thin–” started Wong only to be interrupted by the ripple of power. This caused both sorcerers to look at the direction of the disturbance, then Stephen lifted his hands to be on each side of the eye-shaped amulet on his neck.

The amulet was one of the three magical relics most used by Stephen Strange as the current Sorcerer Supreme, the Eye of Agamotto.

“Eye of Agamotto show me the source of this disturbance,” said Stephen, then the eye opened and allowed him to see across time and space and witness the source of the disturbance. After seeing the source he closed the eye and pinched the bridge of his nose before saying, “by the ageless Vishanti, I can already feel the headaches this is going to cause.”

“Should I bring something else besides the tea?” asked Wong and Stephen nodded.

**Hala, homeworld of the Kree**

****

The Supreme Intelligence was floating in its tank overlooking another tank where a very familiar Kree was recovering.

The leader of the Kree Empire looked at the recovering Ronan the Accuser as his body was remade. He couldn't die just yet because he had too much political power within the Accuser Corp, the Pure Blood faction and the Upper Class of Kree society.

As the Supreme Intelligence was processing immeasurable amounts of data from the network of communication from all worlds under its jurisdiction as well as keeping an eye on possible enemies it came across a transmission from Knowhere.

“Traveler,” said the Supreme Intelligence, each one of the minds that composed the gestalt construct remembered moments on their life before becoming part of the Supreme Intelligence, where and when they saw the Traveler either in person or on a recording.

The actions of an Elder can have great repercussions across the cosmos and right now the Supreme Intelligence was using all available processing power to calculate such outcomes.

Similar events were taking place all over the universe, every being with enough skill in sorcery or cosmic awareness felt the moment that Loki tapped into the hidden potential of Mjolnir, the moment he made contact with the Mother of Storms and Thunder.

**Back in the arena**

While Loki was holding Mjolnir he heard the crack of thunder and the rumbling of metal that gave the impression of a laugh.

 _“Does this situation amuses you, God Tempest?”_  the thoughts of the Trickster were projected for the hammer to hear.

The pulse of thunder just increased, as if the sentient mind inside the hammer didn't even bother to hide its reaction to the Trickster's question.

Thor was shocked, not only had Loki lifted Mjolnir but he also brought out more power than Thor ever did. Thor was so distracted that he didn’t see Mjolnir coming toward him. After being hit both Thor and Mjolnir crashed against the barrier with such a force that it cracked and fell, which engulfed the arena in silence just moments before Mjolnir came flying out of the cloud of smoke toward Loki’s hand.

With hammer in hand, Loki looked at the smoke and said, “You call yourself God of Thunder and yet you know not the power hidden inside Mjolnir or inside yourself.”

Loki let go of Mjolnir and when it hit the ground the armor and cape disappeared, which left him just as he was before using Mjolnir.

“I forfeit!” shouted Loki to the announcer.

The announcer shocked by the events that he witness heard Loki and according to the rules, Thor just won the battle, despite the humiliation.

“Well, folks it seems we have an unexpected end to this unexpected fight. And the winner is the Thunderer!!” shouts the announcer.

Everybody looked at where Thor was thrown and when the smoke dissipated it revealed that he was unconscious. Meanwhile, Loki teleported himself out of the arena since he needed some time to heal himself, rest and make himself presentable for Cadence’s wedding.

**VIP area**

“It seems our bet ended in a draw, brother,” said En Dwi as the Asgardian left the VIP area to help Thor.

“Regardless of the bet I’m satisfied with the result,” said Taneleer as he got up and went back to his sector after teleporting his specimen back to his collection.

“Still, it was fun,” said En Dwi before teleporting out of Knowhere and back to one of his planet-wide casinos that were dedicated solely to his amusement.

**5 hours later**

Loki helped moved Thor to one of the beds of one of the rooms he paid for in this hotel, the most luxurious one he could find, but unfortunately, Knowhere wasn't known for luxurious accommodations. He rented the rooms not only to rest and take a bath but also to make Sif stop complaining, at least he was in one while the rest of the Asgardians were in another room in the opposite side of the building.

After Loki was ready he left his room and informed Balder that he would be returning to Statera and that he planned to stay there for awhile. Creating a portal he jumped into it and he hoped that he wasn't late for the wedding.

**On Statera, Canterlot’s Castle, Cadence’s chambers**

A familiar pink alicorn was looking at the mirror, she was contemplating as she took in her own appearance while she wore the veil and wedding dress only for her eyes to flash green for a moment.

“This day is going to be perfect~~” she started to sing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angrboda is the lover that helped Loki to produce Fenrir, Hel or Hela and Jormungandr(Midgard Serpent) but it's never clear who gave birth to who. Wolves are associated with Angrboda while Serpents with Loki, but I will clarify later which of the children were born from her and which were born from Loki.
> 
> In Marvel’s continuity, Angrboda is the daughter of Echidna from Greek mythology and Vârcolac from Romanian folklore.
> 
> Vârcolac was translated from the greek Vrykolakas, it's an undead monster that lives off of the flesh and blood of humans and sometimes has wolf or wolf-like features. It became the origin of the words vampire and werewolf as it was translated throughout Europe.
> 
> In Marvel Comics both vampirism and lycanthropy are attributed to Chthon an Elder God of Chaos and Darkness. He was banished and erased from history around the Hyborian Age(Time of Conan, the barbarian/Cimmerian) and doesn’t have much involvement with other pantheons. He also wrote the Darkhold the first book on dark magic and chaos magic ever on the Main Marvel Universe, which is almost like the Necronomicon. Although it was a scroll at the time before being turned into a book.
> 
> Varnae was a sorcerer from before the sinking of Atlantis and Lemuria circa 18000~20000 B.C.E., he was a worshiper of Chthon and the original vampire a.k.a. the progenitor of almost all bloodlines and types of vampires on Marvel, not counting vampire created by science and aliens that were called vampire in the past. Also, he is the one that passed the title "King of the Vampires" and most of his powers to Vlad Dracula when he got tired of living.
> 
> Vârcolac or Vrykolaka in the Marvel Universe is an elder-spawn or chaos-spawn born/created from/by Chthon’s energy/magic and is also called The Wolf Demon or The Demon Wolf and is the possible originator of lycanthropy and all of its mystical variant, again not counting scientific variants.
> 
> Set is the Elder God of Chaos and Evil and is also called Tartarus by the Greeks, he is a brother of Gaea, with whom he fathered Typhon and Echidna who are known to be the parents of almost all land monsters in Greek mythology. Every god remotely related to serpents is somehow related to him either by blood and/or magic. Other names for Set are Apep or Apophis(both Egyptian), Tiamat(Akkadian/Babylonian), Lotan(Ugaritic or Canaanites), Ophion and/or Tartarus as well as Pontus(three different incarnations in Greek mythology), Leviathan(Hebrew), among many others.
> 
> This makes Angrboda the granddaughter of Set and Gaea(through Echidna) and Chthon(through Vârcolac or Vrykolakas).
> 
> Glod or Glut is the wife of Logi the God of Fire who sometimes is mistakenly thought to be another name for Loki, she has two daughters with him, Eysa or Eisa and Eimyrja. But in this story, Logi and Loki are the same beings, besides it's not impossible for him to have shown up in a different form that mortals assumed to be another god entirely.
> 
> Sygin is the official wife of Loki and Goddess of Fidelity as well as the mother of Nari or Narfi and Vali.
> 
> Jormungand swims in the “Sea of Space” that exist “around” the dimension of Midgard, he is mostly bond to it but he can go to the "seas" that are connected and "around" the other Eight Realms.


	25. Wedding

**Statera, Canterlot’s Castle’s Halls,**

On the halls that were meant to be the place for the union of Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor became the front row seat for them to witness Queen Chrysalis victory.

It started when Twilight received a wedding invitation for her brother’s wedding, a brother that she had previously mentioned but failed to say that was the current Captain of The Royal Guard, which came as a big surprise to her friends and caused Rarity to faint while on their picnic.

The mane six arrived in Canterlot where Twilight not only learned Cadence’s full name –a name that sounded familiar but she brushed off– but also wanted to introduce her new friends to her former but still best foalsitter ever –to Twilight anyway. However, she noticed strange things about her former foalsitter, her change in attitude, her lack of response to what it should be familiar to her and her magical aura both in how it felt and its color.

In Twilight's haste to prove that her former foalsitter was evil or an impostor she may have looked like a jealous and possessive sister that didn’t want her brother to be with the love of his life, but she was a scholar and she could tell the difference between a spell to help with headaches and a mind control spell. But the worst came when her friends, brother and mentor chose to side with crying bride and didn't even give her the benefit of the doubt, the only one that stayed with her was Spike.

Ever since the unicorn and baby dragon learned that by all intents and purposes Twilight was his mother they sought answers from Celestia. They learned that Spike’s egg was a gift from the current Dragon Lord, unlike what most would think dragons had ways of using magic and one of those ways was through divination, thus they learned that that egg was meant to be given to the Alicorn of the Sun. They learned that dragons need a great deal of magic to hatch, magic that was provided by either one or both parents through their flames but sometimes they will allow another to help “breathe new life” into the unborn dragon and the one(s) that helped were also considered the hatchling's parent(s).

The closest equivalent would be godparent(s) but still not exactly the same and no more than four could do that together, more than four different magics together could be detrimental to the hatchling's health, as far as dragon culture was concerned a hatchling can have four parents and the hatchling will inherit traits of all four of his parents but given the personality of most dragons rarely more than two, more often than not the biological parents, hatch an egg. However it was also possible for an egg to hatch without help by absorbing magic from its surroundings, but that could take centuries and more often than not the spark of magic in the unborn dragon would call out to someone.

Spike’s egg was exchanged with Celestia for the help of carving and enchanting the Scepter of the Dragon Lord as a peace offering when conflict seemed inevitable.

Celestia thought about hatching the egg with her magic but it didn’t feel "right" and her magic seemed to clash with the spark inside it, so she kept the egg safe. Dragon eggs could wait in a dormant state for many years in the absence of the right type of magic before it could get the chance to receive said magic for the baby to develop, because of this Celestia hoped that maybe Luna would be the one to hatch the egg, that would give her a family member that would help her recover from her banishment.

But just to be sure the Diarch of the Day allowed the egg to be used as a test in her school, so she could find the unicorn that had the most compatible magic with the egg, her plan was to teach this unicorn so that in the future he or she could bring Spike into the world. Imagined her surprise when a filly manage to not only hatch the egg but fill him with enough magic to cause the baby to grow into an adult size dragon temporarily, by a filly that had her newly acquired cutie mark that looked just like the sigil she saw on the center of the Tree of Harmony no less.

On that day Twilight Sparkle in a single moment manage to do alone what could take up to four dragons a day to accomplish and that was the reason that Spike wasn't born with wings, instead he inherited the great magic potential and some physical features from Twilight, so when Garble said that Spike was part pony he was right in a way, even if it was meant as an insult at the time. Because of that Twilight and Spike who had developed a dynamic similar to an elder sister and a younger brother started to slowly shift with the discovery of their true connection, it slowly shifted their dynamic to that of a mother and a son.

It was this stronger bond that made Spike stay with Twilight when all of her friends, brother and mentor left her to comfort Cadence, which resulted in both of them being sent to the caves beneath Canterlot when Twilight tried to apologize to the bride. The sight of Spike in danger woke something in her and through her instincts she immediately attacked the princess, her magic hitting her and revealing a hard black chitin beneath the fake fur for a brief moment. Unfortunately, Twilight was so shocked by the realization that the one before her was an impostor that she noticed too late that she was caught in the same spell as Spike.

In the caves of crystal, Twilight was praised by the impostor for not only discovering her but also for catching her off guard before taunting the unicorn saying that she would die there with her son. That’s right the impostor knew the rage of a mother when she saw one and it was that taunt that made Twilight attack again and destroyed the walls of the chamber of crystal she was in with a powerful surge of magic that would have shaken the city if not for the crystals reflecting and dissipating most of the energy.

Twilight almost didn’t stop herself when she saw who she thought to be the impostor, it was only when Spike shouted for her to wait that she saw that this Cadence wasn’t the one that imprisoned them here. After confirming that she was the real Cadence by doing their “secret dance” they proceed to search for an exit, an exit guarded by Cadence’s bridesmaids that also happened to be Twilight’s friends from Canterlot.

Fortunately, they were easily distracted by the bouquet of flowers allowing Twilight to dispell whatever spell was placed on them.

The six of them manage to escape and stop the wedding just before the union of Shining and the impostor, who was revealed to be Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings. A duel of magic ensued with Celestia unable to use all of her power for fear of hurting the nearby ponies or worst level the castle and consequently the city, this, unfortunately, resulted in her defeat since Chrysalis’ magic was more focused than Celestia's.

The mane six also failed to recover the elements after being tasked with the mission of retrieving them by Celestia and it was at that moment that Chrysalis thought that she had dealt with all opposition, but it was also this moment that Luna used her magic to blast the doors open.

Luna left Canterlot with a large group of night guards to investigate what was believed to be the base of operations of the ones that made a threat to Canterlot unaware that it was a distraction to lure her out of the castle. She teleported to the garden of the castle the moment she felt something was wrong but not before informing her guards to return to Canterlot. She fought against Chrysalis like her sister did before and like her sister she lost, but unlike her sister, she lost because she couldn’t bring out enough power, which caused her to remember Loki’s words before his departure.

As Luna was placed in a cocoon beside her sister she wondered if maybe her grandfather was right and Nightmare Moon was truly a part of her, a part that she rejected because others rejected her, actions that led to her imbalance and eventual downfall. Thus from inside of the cocoons, the Royal Sisters saw the mane six being escorted into the room, captured by the changelings, and their hope was lost. That hope, however, was recovered when they saw that Twilight managed to free Cadence after ignoring her friends' attempts to apologize in order to concentrate and she did that by exploiting one of the greatest flaws in villains, monologuing.

Cadence managed to reach Shining Armor and free him from Chrysalis’ control.

“Wha– where… huh? Is the wedding over?” asked Shining Armor confused after he was freed from the mind control.

“It’s all over!” shouted Chrysalis sure of her victory.

“Do the spell!” shouted Twilight to her brother.

“And what good would that serve? My children already roam free throughout the city,” said Chrysalis after laughing at Twilight's idea and she laughed, even more, when she saw that Shining tried to do the spell despite being in no condition to do so, even with his determination he failed.

“My power….it’s useless. I don’t have the strength to repel them,” said Shining Armor.

“Don’t worry, my love will give you strength,” said Cadence.

“What a lovely but ultimately futile sentiment,” said Chrysalis chuckling at their attempts to defeat her while she overlooked the city.

Cadence's horn touched Shining Armor’s and with her love empowering his magic the barrier was not only recreated around them but also expanded outward from the couple's position on the altar.

Chrysalis just turned her head to look at the incoming wave and gave it a bored look.

The moment the barrier was about to hit the queen it stopped, behind Chrysalis was a green circular shield made of energy, however, she not only stopped the barrier but she was also draining it of its love. Pink smoke like energy was drained from the barrier into the shield and the barrier became too weak to support itself and shattered like glass, with the pieces disappearing before even touching the floor.

The pink energy, the love that was empowering the spell, was turned into a small sphere in the middle of the circular shield behind Chrysalis, the queen grinned as she folded the shield around the ball of love and entrapped it in a green sphere of her magic. While turning around to face the couple and the shocked ponies she floated the sphere close to her by letting it orbit around her.

“Do you really think I’m some cliche villain that can be defeated by a display of love and unity? Do you think I don’t know the power of love? Love is what sustains me, love is what drives me, love is the very reason I am as powerful as I am now and above all… love is the reason I live,” said Chrysalis as she approached the shocked couple after ripping out the love of Shining Armor’s spell, when she was at the base of the altar she continued, “Love is a powerful force, love is what drives a being to sacrifice what they want and what they are for the sake of others.”

When Chrysalis finished her speech she floated the sphere near her head before opening her mouth further than they thought it was possible and swallowed the sphere. Her eyes turned pink as her horn glowed the same color and the ponies recoiled at the sight of their empowered enemy as wisps of pink smoke like energy shoot out of her glowing horn and connected with every single changeling. The holes in their legs and wings started to disappear, their unnaturally thin bodies started to gain a bit of mass and soon they looked less malnourished because unknown to every non-changeling present that wasn't their natural state.

“Love is what I will give to my children to make sure that they live even if costs me my life,” said Chrysalis as looked ready to fall, she fought against her own body’s natural urge to feed so she could feed her children, the sudden influx of energy and the fact that she didn't absorb an ounce of it before giving it away, unfortunately, caused internal damage.

Chrysalis coughed green blood and a changeling land near her and helped her stand, this development was something that nopony foresaw, so shocked was Cadence and Shining that they didn’t have time to react when two changelings subsided them and glued their hooves on the floor by spitting that organic resin while the same happened to the rest of those present.

“Why the shocked faces? Surprised that I’m just a mother trying to feed her children? You ponies are so full of yourselves and so sure of your own importance. Not every species has two immortal demigoddesses looking out for them, even if one of them was banished for a thousand years,” said Chrysalis to all of them, she made sure that vibrations such as sound could pass through the cocoon that held the royal sisters so they could hear everything going on outside of their prison, which allowed them to hear the remorse on the otherwise unwavering voice of the queen as she said, “I didn’t want to do this but I was left no other choice, you all will be placed in cocoons where you will have pleasant dreams for the rest of your lives to feed my hive with your emotions, not only a ruler must do what is best for people but a mother must also do what is best for her children. I’m truly sorry it had to end like this.”

“Ah'm sorry Twi we should’ve listened to you,” said Applejack again trying to let her friend know how she felt before their seemingly inevitable end and Twilight was about to tell them that it wasn’t their fault, but Chrysalis spoke first.

“Yes you should ha–*cough**cough* you should have, out of all the ponies here she was the only one that noticed something was wrong, I should have been more careful and not assu–*cough* assumed that Cadence was like an average noble if only a little nicer and less arrogantly, but in the end it didn’t ma–*cough* it didn’t matter, not even Celestia could tell that something was wrong with her niece,” said Chrysalis weakly but still just as regal as before.

This made Twilight think that in a way it was their fault that it ended like this and as Chrysalis approached the group with the help of a changeling supporting her Twilight managed freed her front legs. The changelings around the mane six and Spike were about to attack her, but they were stopped by their queen when she saw the eyes of the purple unicorn shine with power as she hugged the hatchling close to her. Chrysalis could taste the love that the purple unicorn had for the baby dragon and it was somewhat helping her but she could also taste the rage and fear from the power and magically gifted pony in front of her.

“That’s exactly what I was talking about, what you are feeling now is what I feel for my hive, we are not so different after all Twilight Sparkle. Take comfort in the fact that when you open your eyes next time it will be in a world where your friends believed in you and didn’t leave you behind,” said Chrysalis as her horn started to glow green.

Celestia and Luna were hitting the walls of the cocoons with their hooves in a futile attempt to free themselves from their prison filled with liquid that allowed them to breathe but blocked their magic and all seemed lost when everybody present heard a voice.

“That is only if I let that happen, my dear,” said a voice coming from all around them before a green portal opened and a familiar green alicorn stallion stepped through.

“No, it cannot be,” said Chrysalis as she saw the alicorn that she thought to be just a rumor.

Loki just came back from his trip.


	26. Consequences

“No, it’s impossible. Your existence was just a rumor,” said Chrysalis to herself in disbelief, while she defeated the Royal Sisters she thought the maybe for whatever reason they didn’t or couldn’t use their full power, that or their power was greatly overestimated over the centuries and truthfully she didn't care at this point.

While the queen wanted to believe that the one before her was either a fake or a newly ascended alicorn like Cadence she could feel his power and was vastly superior to the royal sisters, he even surpassed Discord, who she felt for the first time millennia ago at a distance and for the second time not long before the rumors of a fourth alicorn started to spread few months ago.

“And yet here I stand changeling queen,” said Loki as he looked around and saw the result of the invasion.

“Grampa Loki, help us!” shouted Cadence.

Loki’s seidr immediately freed his granddaughters, his great-granddaughter and her groom as well as the elements and the baby dragon while trapping all changelings in individual green bubbles.

While everypony was celebrating he took his time to look at the changeling queen.

“When was the last time you had a decent meal?” asked Loki to Chrysalis.

“Why would you care? You will either destroy or banish us, so we either have a quick death now or a slow one later,” said Chrysalis having lost hope while trying to use the hivemind to comfort her panicking children.

“And why would I destroy my own worshipers? Even if they stopped worshipping me,” asked Loki.

“WHAT?!” shouted everybody.

“But you are an alicorn. Why would you not defend Equestria? And why do you think we worship the likes of you?” asked Chrysalis with disdain at such an idea.

Loki shifted from stallion to a mare, then a dragon, a giant serpent, a wolf, a giant spider, a chimera, a griffon and a myriad of forms that no one recognized.

“You may know me as the Traveler, the God of Change and Hope among other things, I was here to see your species rise and taught them many things, besides while I care about those I consider friends and family I don’t particularly care about this nation,” said Loki as he cycled through many forms and his voice changing with each form.

“Grandfather, how could you?” asked Celestia.

“Celestia, you have to remember that I was alive long before Equestria existed and I will be alive long after this nation is forgotten. I saw nations, dynasties, species, worlds and galaxies be born, rise, fall and give way to something new. I will save you but not your country, the only reason I stopped this invasion was out of curiosity,” said Loki to Celestia while still shifting through many forms.

“How can you be so uncaring?” asked Celestia feeling a little betrayed, she didn’t expect her grandfather to defend Equestria but still hearing him talk about the fall of her country like something trivial was unexpectedly hurtful.

“You are still young. Asked me that question again in a few million years if your views remain the same,” said Loki to Celestia.

“Lord Traveler, but I thought you weren’t real,” said Chrysalis in a subsided manner to not anger the god in front of her.

“And why you thought that, little Chrysalis? Your mother is such a devoted follower of my teachings,” asked Loki.

“You know my mother?” asked Chrysalis.

“I know every changeling queen of every hive that worshipped and still worships me since your species became sentient and formed a religion with me in it,” said Loki.

“What now?” asked Chrysalis afraid of the punishment that the patron god of their race was going to unleash upon her hive for her disloyalty.

“I came for the wedding of my great-granddaughter, so I will think how to punish you later,” said Loki settling his form into that of a changeling queen.

Loki was bigger than Chrysalis, almost twice her size and without holes on the limbs, wings and mane, her chitin was dark green almost black, the “saddle” was gold and green, her four wings were just as long as her body and resemble the wings of both a butterfly and a dragonfly but with a constant shifting kaleidoscope of colors, her eyes were now slitted but kept the same multi-shade green that now extended to the sclera, her horn looking like two blades of a glaive curving backward and upward with the smaller blade behind the bigger one and a long and segmented tail that ended in a blade similar to the scepter his fragment used in the chitauri incursion, it even had a green gem to further the similarities.

“And of course I will make sure none of you dies before facing my judgment,” said Loki with her voice resembling multiple incarnations of her speaking at the same time.

Loki’s tail passed through the bubble holding Chrysalis and the tip of the blade touched the horn of the imprisoned queen just after the gem in her tail started to glow pink. Then she converted her seidr into psionic energy or psions, the energy that comes from the mind of sentient beings and was the energy used in all mind related powers be they natural, supernatural or artificial, and also the energy that the changelings feed on.

Chrysalis felt pure energy fill her and her hive as they were restored to their prime and now the hunger no longer clawed their minds. The holes on their bodies disappeared completely, they no longer were unnaturally thin, their chitin and eyes now have a shine in them like if they were polished where they were dull before, their eyes and “saddles” start to acquire different shades of color and their wing were now lustrous almost glowing on their own.

“Now that’s the beautiful race I remember,” said Loki and everypony couldn't help but agreed with her. Where before the changeling look and acted like ravenous insects, now they looked like beautiful and noble creatures deserving of respect and awe, which caused Rarity to almost faint at their breathtaking beauty. Then Loki said in a stern and firm tone, “Don’t misunderstand this act for a benevolent intervention, your hive will be confined to your territory until I decide what to do with you, I just gave you and your hive enough energy to last until them, changelings from other hives and beings of another species may come and go but neither you nor your children may leave. Is that clear?”

“Crystal,” said Chrysalis somewhat happy that they were saved from starvation but now she dreaded the fate their god had in store for them.

As soon she said that the bubbles containing the changelings disappeared in flashes of light, teleported to their hive’s territory.

“Now let’s continue the festivities,” said Loki as if nothing were wrong.

Cadence just hugged Loki not bothered by her current form, Shining Armor, on the other hand, looked a bit uncomfortable. She, however, felt her great-grandmother flinch and asked if she was alright.

“I’m fine just a bit sore from almost three days of non-stop gladiatorial combat,” said Loki and while Cadence was curious she thought it was best to talk about it later.

After everypony recovered from their shock, Celestia approached her student since there was nothing she could do about what just happened in regard to her grandmother.

“My faithful student, I am truly sorry for not at least consider your words since you knew Cadence and is almost a sister to her. Time to put a real wedding together. What do you think?” asked Celestia. The silence was her answer as Twilight kept her hold on Spike, who looked at her with concern.

“Twilight?” asked Spike only to feel a teardrop on his cheek.

“Come on sugarcube we have a wedding to put together,” said AJ.

“No,” said Twilight quietly, so quietly that only Spike heard.

“Yes darling and this time we will make it right,” said Rarity.

“No,” said Twilight more firmly and this time was heard by the others.

“What you mean ‘no’, egghead?” asked Rainbow.

“No, I won’t be putting a ‘real wedding together’. Not after this,” said Twilight turning around and showing her face with tears running down.

“What’s wrong Twilly?” asked Shining as he approached his sister.

“‘What’s wrong?’ What’s wrong?! How can you ask me what is wrong after everything?!” shouted Twilight.

Luna and Cadence were about to tell Twilight to calm down but were stopped by a big black hoof, then they looked at Loki, still in her changeling queen form as she shook her head.

“What do you mean? Miss Loki came and saved the day by sending that mean-meanie-pants away. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Umm, lemonade,” said Pinkie daydreaming about a refreshing glass of lemonade in the end.

“The changelings were not the problem. You are,” said Twilight pointing at the group in front of her.

“What do you by that, Twilight? If you don’t mind me asking,” asked Fluttershy quietly using her normal tone.

“The problem isn’t the invasion. My problem is that you all left me and didn’t even consider my words,” said Twilight.

“But you weren’t making any sense,” said Pinkie.

“I knew Cadence since I was a filly, don’t you think I would be able to tell if something wasn’t right? Especially when she was mean to all of you without a good reason. Not only that but also the fact that her attitude and magic were too different from what I remembered,” asked Twilight.

“Well, you did come off as a jealous and possessive sister,” said Rarity.

“Even if that was the case I can understand Princess Celestia siding with Chrysalis at the time since she thought it was her niece, but even so you could’ve at least give me the benefit of the doubt instead of siding with a pony you just met instead of your friend,” said Twilight before pointing her right hoof at Shining Armor and continue, “and do you really think I don’t know what a ‘headache relieving spell’ looks like? And worst you forbade me from coming to your wedding.”

“You did what?!!” shouted Cadence.

“We thought it was you,” said Shining trying to defend his actions.

“We also thought it was just the stress of the wedding,” said Celestia.

“What? Both of you should know better than anypony that I would rather lock myself in my room than be mean to anypony,” said Cadence.

“Even so, what is the big deal?” asked Rainbow.

“We could have died!!” shouted Twilight, her words hitting her friends, mentor and brother hard, a fact made worse by her tears and the way that she was holding Spike, who was trying to comfort her.

“What do you mean darling?” asked Rarity.

“When I was sent down there with Spike she taunted us by saying that no one would look for us and after thinking about it, she was right. She could easily have me and Spike replaced, it was only out of sheer dumb luck we found Cadence and an exit,” said Twilight.

“We’re sorry sugarcube we d-” started AJ but was interrupted by Twilight saying, “Save it. I don’t want to hear it. Not from you and not now.”

As soon as she finished her speech her horn started to glow and before any of them could say anything else Twilight teleported herself and Spike away.

“I'm disappointed in all of you. You were supposed to be her friends, so until we solve this situation the wedding is off,” said Cadence before leaving the room to search for Twilight.

“I am also disappointed but the worst part is that I saw this same scenario play out so many times that it no longer surprises or bothers me,” said Loki while she looked at those present before sighing and say to herself, “And just when I have the perfect present for the newlyweds.”

Luna knowing how much a betrayal could hurt decide to go with Cadence, the dark blue alicorn had after all felt something similar, even if the circumstances were different.

Celestia felt like her heart was stabbed, both by the words of Twilight and the guilt she felt because of her actions toward Twilight.

Loki was walking to the exit of the room as well while her shimmering form slowly turned from her changeling queen form to her alicorn mare form.

“This is the reason I thought you were not worthy of being the ‘Elements of Harmony’ but it wasn't my choice to make. Maybe  **she**  saw something in each of you that made you worthy of your element but I don’t. I’m especially disappointed in those that carry my blood,” said Loki, now back in her female alicorn form.

All that was left was the rest of the mane six and Celestia in an uncomfortable silence.

“We messed up big time. Didn’t we?” asked Rainbow.

“Yes, we did sugarcube,” said AJ.

“We hurt her feelings,” said Fluttershy almost in tears.

Even Pinkie mane was straight instead of the normal cotton candy look, which showed her sadness.

**Twilight’s Tower**

Twilight was laying on the couch of her old library crying and being comforted by Spike, her friends from Canterlot, Luna, Cadence and her parents.

“It’s ok dear, just let it out,” said Twilight Velvet as she comforted her daughter.

Twilight Velvet was a unicorn pony with a very light gray coat, blue eyes, with a purple and white mane also.

“I still can't believe that Shining did that,” said Night Light disappointed with his son.

Night Light was a unicorn pony with blue coat and mane with yellow eyes.

“I know Mr Sparkes but still it wasn’t even because of the mind-control that he did that,” said Moon Dancer.

“How can he forbid his own sister from being in his wedding?” asked Lemon Hearts, a unicorn mare with yellow coat, two shades of cerulean on the mane/tail and with raspberry colored eyes.

“I know right? And that’s not even mentioning her ‘friends’,” said Minuette with Twinkleshine nodding in agreement.

Minuette was a unicorn mare with a blue coat, a blue and white mane/tail and dark blue eyes.

Twinkleshine was a unicorn mare with an ivory coat, curly pink mane/tail and electric blue eyes.

“It’s not my sister’s fault, at least not completely,” said Luna.

“What do you mean, aunt Luna?” asked Cadence as she two was trying to comfort Twilight.

“It’s as grandfather said, when you live long enough you may lose sight of those around you especially if they are mortals. I, unlike my sister, had nothing but time to think about it in the last millennia, but my sister had to constantly worry about those around her,” said Luna.

“Even so the same can’t be said about her brother and the others,” said Lyra.

“I don’t know what to think anymore,” said Spike still being held by Twilight.

Twilight’s parents were at first conflicted when they receive the news about Spike and Twilight’s true connection but that didn’t change their opinion of him, in fact, it only made easier for both the parents and Spike to consider each other family. Plus Velvet wouldn’t stop gushing over him when she discovered he was her first “grandbaby”.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, Night Light went to see who was knocking and imagine his surprise when he saw the princesses’ grandmother, currently.

“Your Highness, what can I do for you?” asked Light trying to be polite but wanting to stay by his distraught daughter's side and help her.

“I came here to help young Twilight,” said Loki.

Light not really having an excuse to turn Loki's help away opened the door to let her in.

“Hello Twilight,” said Loki as he approached the young unicorn.

Both mother and daughter looked at the new arrival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just read the newest issues of Mighty Thor(#701) and Doctor Strange(#381) as well as witnessed the awesomeness that was the trailer for Infinity War, so I felt like posting this chapter. That and I had some free time.
> 
> Anyway, about the psions, they are a form of energy that is actually used by sorcerers and telepaths in the Marvel Universe, it takes the form of either pink or blue flames or ripples. The Phoenix Force is actually made of psionic energy from across the Multiverse. It's through that energy that anyone can reach into a dimension made of pure thoughts, ideas, dreams and emotions know as the Superflow.
> 
> I also never liked how they just brushed off Twilight on the wedding and she didn't have a problem with it in the show.
> 
> I just thought that Loki would be fond of shapeshifters, besides it was kinda foreshadowed when I said that Traveler was one of his monikers. You can go and check it's in Chapter 20's Author's Note.
> 
> Lastly updates will be less frequent, basically, I will write if I have inspiration. I'll try to not take too long with the chapters but no promises since I have to concentrate on my studies and work.
> 
> Also, if you are curious about some of the styles of magic that were mentioned this chapter just go to my notes on Fimfiction.net, here is the address: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/766902/magic


	27. Potential

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Speech between "<>" are for different languages.

**Canterlot’s Castle’s Halls, just after Loki left**

The six mares and one stallion remained on the hall after the Goddess of Stories parting words.

*Sigh* “I should have known,” said Celestia to herself quietly before addressing to the six other ponies present, “Don't blame yourselves my little ponies, it wasn't your fault. If anything it was mine, at least partially.”

“How can you say that princess you…” started Rarity but Celestia motioned for her to stop.

“…should have noticed that there was something wrong with my niece and at least considered my pupil’s words,” said Celestia as soon as Rarity stopped.

“No offense Your Highness, but Twi can be a little, um…” started AJ but she stopped to find the right word to describe Twilight's actions.

“…overzealous?” suggested Fluttershy with her normal voice.

“Pff, more like overbearing if you asked me,” interjected Rainbow.

“Yeah, we know,” commented Shining.

“Oh, it can't be easy for you Captain Armor, especially considering that Princess Cadence just postponed the wedding indefinitely,” said Rarity.

“No, it's ok,” said Shining, which surprised Celestia and Rarity. Then he continued, “I kinda agreed that Twily is the priority right now, she was always very emotional and impulsive. I too would have dropped the wedding to help her, but I don't think she wants to see me right now.”

“But what about all the preparations for the wedding?” asked Rainbow.

“Let me put it this way, if your little sister was distraught after a situation where she honestly expected to die and be forgotten would you still go through with your wedding?” asked Shining Armor.

“Ok, when you put it that way…” Rainbow trailed off.

“Darn right Ah wouldn't, family comes first,” said AJ.

“I agree with you, dear,” said Rarity.

“Let's hope my niece, sister and grandmother can talk to her so she is at least more open and we all can have a conversation, one where I hope to apologize for hurting my pupil like that,” said Celestia.

“Indeed Your Highness, we should have at least humored her, if nothing else just to reassure her,” said Rarity.

“Um… where's Pinkie?” asked Fluttershy breaking the awkward silence that followed Celestia's speech and Rarity’s statement.

“Huh?” was that answer as the group looked around searching for the pink earth pony.

**Twilight's former tower**

“Lady Loki?” asked Twilight as she saw the alicorn.

“Yes, young Twilight it is I,” said Loki.

“Did my sister sent you, grandmother?” asked Luna.

“No Luna, she didn’t,” said Loki.

“Grandma, what should we do? Surely you have some word of wisdom to offer in this kind of situation,” said Cadence.

“More than you realize,” said Loki.

“What do you mean?” asked Twilight still distraught but now curious, distracting herself from the betrayal –in her mind– for now.

“Do you know why they call me the Goddess of Stories?” asked Loki as she conjured a couch for her to lay on.

Twilight shook her head, she heard that bit of information from Luna but didn't know why Loki was the goddess of what she was.

“It’s because I record every story that I witness, I’m the one that will remember those who will eventually be forgotten. While my daughter receives in her realm those who have departed I’m the one who records their actions. From great heroes to simple farmers, from righteous and enlighten to wicked and depraved,” said Loki.

“You must have seen a lot,” said Moondancer.

“Indeed I have. Don’t take this the wrong way but I have seen this too many times,” said Loki.

“Is that supposed to cheer me up?” asked Twilight.

“No, I’m not here to comfort you, I'm here to give you an advice,” said Loki. Then she added, “And in my opinion, you acted in an extremely childish and reckless way. Not only that but the way you treated your brother and friends were unjustified.”

“Grandma/Grandmother!” shouted Cadence and Luna not wanting to hurt Twilight further.

One look from the goddess told her granddaughter and great-granddaughter to not interrupt, so she continued despite Twilight's expression, “I’m seriously disappointed in the way you acted, have you not considered the possible consequences of your actions?”

“Consequ–*hic* consequences?” asked Twilight despite her urge to keep crying while Spike and Night Light glared at Loki for making Twilight cry, Cadence, Luna and Velvet, on the other hand, sighed since they hoped to calm Twilight down before talking about this.

“Yes, have you ever considered what Chrysalis might have done if your friends and family believed you right then and there? What kind of damage Chrysalis would have caused with your friend and family close by? With Spike close by?” asked Loki ignoring everypony's reaction.

For the first time Twilight stopped to consider what her actions would have caused and her eyes widen in surprise and horror as she thought about the many ways Chrysalis could have reacted.

“Can't you see that you're upsetting her?” asked Moondancer.

“Precisely,” said Loki before looking at those present and say to Twilight's friends, “I'm not surprised that you four took her side despite her other friends and brother were victims of Chrysalis little scheme as much as she is. Three of you were down there with her and the four of you only heard her version of the events.”

“But Shining banned her from his wedding,” said Lemon Hearts trying to defend Twilight, however it was possible to hear the uncertainty in her tone.

“At the time Shining Armor had to choose between his sister and his bride, the fact that his sister was in his eyes the obvious perpetrator of the whole situation didn't help her case. What would you have chosen?” asked Loki and her response was only silence from the four mares. Then she looked at Twilight's parents, “You two, however, I cannot fault, you were just helping your foal that was clearly in distress.”

While Loki was berating her friends Twilight stopped to consider how her actions looked from her brother and friends’ perspective, the picture that her mind was painting wasn't a good one, at least in her favor.

“I'm however surprised you came to Twilight's aid,” said Loki as she addressed to Cadence. Then she elaborated her thoughts, “I would have thought you would stay by your beloved's side after the whole ordeal. I mean, it couldn't have been easy for him to uphold his duty as the protector of this city in his wedding day only for the impersonator of his bride to control and feed off of him before his true bride postponing the ceremony in favor of helping the sister that said hurtful things to him.”

That speech caused Twilight to flinch as Loki presented her actions in a logical and calm manner. If anything Shining was more of a victim than her in this scenario and the fact that her impulsive attitude only made his situation worst made her feel even worse than before.

“I think he understands why I did it and I could see that he wanted to help Twilight, but she clearly didn't want to see him. I think he wouldn't want to proceed with the marriage anyway, at least not without Twilight there,” said Cadence and her answer didn't make Twilight feel any better. Luna, on the other hand, remained silent since she trusted her grandmother despite her actions seemingly not helping at the moment.

“I see, however, I'm not here to approve or condemn your actions. I came here to give a advice to young Twilight,” said Loki before looking at the purple mare. Then she asked, “Take deep breaths and focus on me for now. Are you ready to hear what I have to say?”

Twilight just nodded as she took a deep breath to calm down.

“If I asked you a few days ago if you ever thought that your friends would leave you behind in favor of another that they just met, what would have been your answer?” asked Loki.

“I would have said that it would be impossible, that my friends would never leave me behind,” said Twilight.

“It’s not that different when you sometimes don’t pay attention to your friends when they want to tell you something. The difference here was that it dealt with an enemy and it could have resulted in your death or imprisonment, and theirs as well,” said Loki.

Twilight lowered her head after been reminded of her ordeal.

“But sometimes friends can do or say hurtful things to each other, but it’s how you deal with it that can either strengthen or break your friendship. I know it’s an extreme example but I and my fellow Elders have been friends, for lack of a better word, since the universe was young. Do you know how many hurtful things we did to each other in that time?” asked Loki.

Twilight shook her head.

“More than you can fathom, but even now billions of years later there is no sentient being I would trust more than them. They are my brothers and sisters in all but blood, we shared many happy and sad times together. Even now our bond endures even as the stars of the galaxies where our friendship was forged have long since grown dark and cold,” narrated Loki.

“That sounds wonderful,” said Twilight wiping a tear from her eye.

“Indeed, now you have two options. You can either try again or move on, you can let this experience either strengthen or break what you started to build with them,” said Loki.

“What do you think I should do? Now that I think about it I wasn't a good friend at all,” asked Twilight.

“That’s your decision, not mine,” said Loki.

“Then, give your honest opinion. What do you think of me and my friends?” asked Twilight.

“When I first met you I saw six ponies unworthy of her power, but as I spent time with you and your friends I think I saw the reason she chose you. You and they have a potential for great things in the future, but it’s up to you and the other five to live up to that potential,” said Loki.

At first Twilight was sad to hear that Loki was disappointed, then became happier when she heard the rest but one thing bothered her.

“‘Her’?” asked Twilight confused as to who Loki was referring to.

“The goddess that made the Elements of Harmony of course. And before you ask, you will meet her when you are ready,” said Loki.

Twilight nodded and while she was curious about this goddess she accepted the answer of the older alicorn.

“So I just forgive them and move on?” asked Twilight.

“If that’s what you want, just ask yourself this, ‘they may have hurt me but do they deserve another chance? And I also hurt them, should I even try to apologize?’. Don’t let others tell you what to do, do what you feel is right,” said Loki before adding, “take a few days to think about it and to center yourself.”

“Thanks for the advice Lady Loki,” said Twilight feeling better but then she asked, “and what about Shining Armor?”

“To me just blood it’s not enough to make your family. Do you still consider him family? Your actions should be based on how you answer this question,” said Loki.

“Thank you again Lady Loki, I think I'm going to spend some time with my family and friends here on Canterlot for a while,” said Twilight.

“You are welcome young Twilight, I rarely get the opportunity to bond with my descendants like this,” said Loki as she smiled

“‘Descendant’?” asked Twilight’s parents at the same time.

“Yeah, apparently Twilight is descendant of both princesses,” answered Spike.

“How is that possible?” asked Velvet.

“You are from Celestia’s bloodline,” said Loki as he pointed to Velvet before pointing to Light and continue, “and you are from Luna’s bloodline.”

Luna, who was present, took a good look at Night Light after her suspicions were confirmed, she needed to learn how her grandmother could identify her own bloodline.

“Aunt, why you never told me you and aunt Celestia had foals?” asked Cadence, not being informed of this fact before.

“It was a long time ago,” said Luna with a fond smile and a faraway look.

“My work here is done,” said Loki as she got up before dispelling the couch and walking toward the exit.

“Grandmother, wait! I want to speak to you about something,” said Luna following Loki after seeing that Twilight was much better now.

“What?” asked Loki as she walked through the hallways with Luna beside her.

“Maybe you were right about Nightmare Moon. During the invasion both me and my sister were defeated by Chrysalis and I felt so useless. We failed our little ponies in the moment they needed us, at the moment they needed me,” said Luna as she lowered her head and looked down in shame.

“I think it’s best if we left this matter be for now. You and your sister have a city to take care and subjects that need to be reassured. We can discuss this another day,” said Loki.

Luna nodded in agreement with her grandmother, so she went outside to meet with her guards that will be arriving shortly in order to coordinate the troops and assess the damage done to the city.

Loki used her seidr to teleport herself out of the castle to the familiar cave in the Everfree Forest, a cave that housed the Tree of Harmony.

“Time to see if the avatars you have chosen are worthy,” said Loki.

*Hum*

“I know but this is a turning point, their friendship will either become stronger from this ordeal or it will break entirely,” said Loki.

*Hum* *pulse*

“Are you sure it was wise to place such a bet on them? They have potential, but that’s all they have for now,” said Loki.

*Pulse* *pulse*

“To me, it doesn’t matter, I will still record their stories, but I will be saddened if that comes to pass,” said Loki.

*Hum* *pulse* *hum*

“It’s not like I have control over my worshippers, so long they follow the rules that were agreed upon they can do whatever they want,” said Loki.

*Pulse* *Pulse*

“You really need to get out more and be updated on the goings of the multiverse,” said Loki.

*Hum*

“Every story must end, even my own,” said Loki.

*Hum*

“We can only wait and see. I just wanted to inform you of this development personally,” said Loki.

After the conversation was over Loki just had to wait for this crisis to be over before discussing the “Nightmare Moon situation” with Luna. Sometimes she felt like she would be better being a Watcher, but then she remembered that she could enjoy the pleasures of life while they choose to abdicate that in favor of just observing, besides she wasn't a fan of the "non-interference oath".

As Loki pondered this a familiar red, orange and yellow bird came flying by, Loki extended her right wing and let the phoenix perch on it. Once Philomena was perched Loki looked in the phoenix’s eyes.

“Hello Philomena, what can I do for you?” asked Loki to the bird she met a few days after her arrival.

“<Greetings Lady of Green Fire, friend Celestia is sad and not even my song can cheer her up,>” said Philomena in the language of the animals that few could understand. To anyone else, the sound was like the harmonious song of a bird.

“Considering everything that happened, it’s to be expected,” said Loki.

“<I don’t like seeing her sad,>” said Philomena, her song acquiring a note of melancholy.

“It was a wake-up call, she has to deal with this instead of bottling up her feelings. Otherwise, she risked going down the same path as Luna,” said Loki.

“<I know, I still remember when friend Luna was corrupted by that thing,>” said Philomena as her song started to distort in the end.

“Oh, so you know,” said Loki.

“<I know only that something corrupted friend Luna, I felt the wrongness as it slowly took root on her, but I don’t know who or what was responsible. If I knew I would not hesitate in using my Ember of the Great Flame of Life on the foul creature,>” said Philomena as she cawed in anger, causing a small distortion on her song that communicated her anger to those around her.

“Don’t waste the Ember of the Phoenix Force with such a foul being, besides your true death would only cause my granddaughter further sadness,” said Loki and Philomena lowered her head a little at the thought of causing more sadness to her friends

“<Could you do something? She is the nestling of your nestling after all,>” said Philomena as her song returned to normal.

“I will talk to her,” said Loki.

“<Thank you, Lord and Lady of many forms,>” said Philomena before flying off.

Loki teleported back to the Castle’s courtyard before she looked at the setting sun, seeing the shades of orange illuminate the city as Celestia lowered the sun, to her eyes that saw beyond mortal sight it was as if the light of the stars were like the tears of sadness dripping onto the canvas that was the sky.

The goddess sighed and walked inside after witnessing the last ray of sunlight over the horizon, once inside she went to Celesta’s chambers since now was Luna’s turn to rule and oversee the repair of the city.

Loki was now standing before the golden double door with a stylized sun, she knocked on the door and waited. It wasn’t long before the door was open by Celestia before she gave a smile.

“Hello grandmother, what a pleasant surprise. How may I help you?” asked Celestia.

“You know, it’s almost futile to lie to the God of Lies, right? May I come in?” asked Loki.

Celestia stopped smiling and just sighed before letting her grandmother in.

“You can drop the illusion as well,” said Loki after closing the door.

Celestia’s horn glowed before her image started to shimmer and soon after she was revealed. The mane of the solar diarch was a mess, it was tangled, the colors were all jumbled and were no longer fluttering. Her eyes were red and she had tear tracks on her face.

Without hesitation, Loki engulfed her granddaughter in a hug with her wings and discreetly lead her to the bed, which Celestia didn’t protest.

“You look terrible,” said Loki as she and Celestia laid on the bed with her left wing covering Celestia like a blanket.

Celestia just looked at her grandmother as tears started to flow again, Loki didn’t protest as Celestia cried against her neck.

Loki let her granddaughter cry as she hummed a song Frigga used to sing for her when she was a child barely able to speak or walk while gently using her seidr to untangle Celestia’s mane and using her left wing to rub Celestia’s head and neck in a soothing manner.

“You don’t need to be strong all the time, just let the emotions flow,” said Loki.

Celestia didn't know for how long she cried, she had been so focused in helping Luna that she forgot that even herself need a shoulder to cry on sometimes, Twilight’s words just brought to the surface what she tried to bottle up. How long had it been since Celestia was held like this, more than a thousand years ruling and keeping a strong façade, a thousand years being a beacon of benevolence, kindness, wisdom and grace for her little ponies, now she was just tired.

“Better now?” asked Loki and Celestia just nodded without looking up.

“Philomena was worried, you know?” asked Loki but she was sure that Celestia knew the answer. Instead, she decided to offer some wisdom to her granddaughter, “Even immortals can be broken by the weight of the ages. Don’t try to be unyielding, it will only make this more painful. Haven’t you learned this lesson by witnessing Luna’s corruption? Don’t try to be a stone in the river, be the water.”

Celestia pondered her grandmother’s words, but even so, the words of Twilight and even Cadence’s still echoed in her mind. She failed to see the one impersonating her niece and she didn’t trust in her most faithful student, in the end, the one without faith was her.

“You truly care for young Twilight a great deal, don’t you?” asked Loki.

“Yes,” said Celestia. In her current state it was to be expected, the more you care about the more it can hurt you in the end.

“How much?” asked Loki.

“Like a daughter. Ever since my last pupil, ever since Sunset Shimmer left, Twilight is the one student that I care that much for,” said Celestia now looking at Loki.

“Do you want to talk about it?” asked Loki and Celestia nodded.

“Sunset was always rebellious and impatient, it was sad but not unexpected when she decided to leave my tutelage and learn on her own. She even used the Crystal Mirror to go to another world, Midgard if I’m not mistaken. I hoped that she would come back but she never did. I just hope she is happy wherever she is now,” said Celestia.

“Crystal Mirror?” asked Loki.

“It’s a mirror enchanted by Starswirl to be a portal to another world, it stayed in the Crystal Empire for a long time and that is the reason for the name ‘Crystal Mirror’. When you said that Statera has a connection to Midgard I knew that is the world behind the mirror,” said Celestia.

“I see,” said Loki as he pondered over this piece of information before asking, “and why do you care so much about young Twilight?”

“I don’t really know, I had multiple reasons to teach her. However, over time as I saw the look of adoration in those innocent eyes and I saw as she grew into a fine young mare she slowly became less of a student and more of a daughter,” said Celestia.

“Then, why did you side with Chrysalis instead of Twilight?” asked Loki, which caused Celestia to lower her head in shame.

“Sometimes Twilight tends to overreact, I thought it was just that and that Cadence was just stressed by the upcoming wedding,” said Celestia.

“Even so, do you think it was right to just brush off her concerns like you did?” asked Loki.

“No it wasn’t,” said Celestia.

“You need to go on vacations,” concluded Loki.

“What?” asked Celestia.


	28. Change

**A week later**

The past week was full of emotional moments for the mane six, Twilight forgave them but told them that they would have to earn her trust again, after such an ordeal it was to be expected, time would be needed to heal such wounds.

Twilight actually talked with Shining Armor first but like her friends it would take more than just words to heal the bond they share, regardless of what happened they were still family so it was better than not speak with each other, they planned to reconnect after Shining and Cadence’s Honeymoon.

Speaking of family Cadence and Shining Armor’s wedding went as planned, only two weeks later than the original date and the newlyweds were going on a trip in a few days. However, the couple was surprised when Loki handed them three bottles of authentic Asgardian Mead, everyone seemed to forget that there was a reason why honeymoon was called  **honey** moon in the first place.

Celestia and Luna were also going on a trip with their grandfather, the trip supposedly would last only a day and the God of Stories insisted it was enough time for them to relax and have a good time. But just to make sure everything would be fine he was going to leave an afterimage or thought projection behind to take care of the day-to-day affairs of the realm.

The Trickster was smart enough to leave enough seidr behind in order to interact with the physical world and this would allow him to accompany his granddaughters on their travels and make sure that there was someone in Canterlot in case of an emergency. They, after all, deserved a break from politics after everything they have been through, even if just a short one, and he would be damned if he would let anything happen to their kingdom since this trip was his suggestion in the first place.

Besides, it would be the Royal Sisters’ first time outside of the realm of Statera and the two young demi-goddesses were very eager to see what the Universe was like. However, they were unsure of how a single day would be enough for them to have such a trip, but the rather coy tone that their grandfather used when talking about his plans was rather suspicious.

Anyway, Luna and Loki were currently in the gardens of the castle waiting for the Diarch of the Day to finish rescheduling all the appointments of today. The two alicorns didn't have to wait long after the sunrise before Celestia joined them.

“Are you sure a day is enough, grandfather?” asked Celestia with worry her voice.

“Don't worry we shall be back before it's time for the sun to be lowered and the moon to be raised in the sky,” said Loki confidently.

“I'm not really sure if one day counts as vacations grandfather,” commented Luna.

“I said we would be back by the end of the day but not how long our vacations would last,” said Loki with a smirk on his face.

The Royal Sisters’ response to Loki's statement was to tilt their head slightly to the side —it was rather cute— as they express their confusion to their grandfather.

“Anyway, did you at least make sure that those Nobles won't try to pass a ridiculous law while you are away. Yggdrasil knows how inconvenient it is when they try to do something behind the ruler's back,” said Loki before rumbling a beat on the end.

“I did, but they are not as bad as you made them out to be,” said Celestia, however, she recalled her experiences about her dealings with nobles and she couldn't help but mutter to herself, “At least I don't think they are.”

“Be as it may before we depart there's something I want to show you. Are both of you ready to go?” asked Loki and the sisters nodded.

The God of Stories closed his eyes and concentrated on his seidr. Not long after that, a green magic circle with many runes appeared beneath them and from there a dome encircled them. After closing itself the dome was lifted from the ground with its three occupants secured on the inside and shoot upward.

Eventually, they passed through the uppermost layer of the atmosphere, and thus beyond the boundaries that any inhabitants from Statera managed to explore —from their recorded history that is— before stopping once it archived a height a stable orbit.

“Behold, the world where you were born and you have lived on up until this point,” said Loki rather dramatically.

The Royals sisters opened their eyes having closed them when they stumbled a bit because of their rather abrupt ascent. When they looked down their eyes widen both in surprise and awe at the sight before them, it was so beautiful that they almost cried.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” asked Loki as he saw the look of awe on his granddaughters' faces, then he added, “The first time looking at the world you were born and the realization that it appears so small in the vastness of Eternity.”

“Did… did you feel something like this when you gazed upon Asgard?” asked Celestia as she saw the sun in its arc over Statera.

Luna looked at the moon the was almost on the opposite side of the sun, to see the place where she was sealed for a thousand years so distant and even smaller than before was breathtaking. She couldn’t help but wonder if her rage would have disappeared if she was conscious during her imprisonment and witnessed how small her world looked instead of the dream-like haze that was the millennia she spent bound there as an incorporeal being. Those thoughts helped her to realize how foolish she was and also to find the resolve necessary to face the past she rejected.

Loki smiled as he saw the glint of steel in Luna’s eyes as they reflected the light of the sun on the empty vastness of outer space as well as the green and blue reflection of Statera, however, he turned his attention to Celestia and answered her, “Yes and even now I carry that image in my heart.”

“But you said that Asgard didn’t felt like your home, did that change?” asked Luna as she heard her grandfather’s answer.

“No, it didn’t,” answered Loki simply and without hesitation before making a motion with his right wing, then a portal appeared. So the sphere moved through the portal into a tunnel of light that reminded Loki of the Bifrost, then he added as they travelled to Midgard’s dimension, “But to realize that my problems were so small before Eternity was enough for my curiosity to question the existence of everything and to this day its that curiosity that guides me in my pursuit of knowledge.”

Luna and Celestia became captivated by the reflection of the glittering light of the tunnel that reminded them of light refracted on clear ice but also flickered like flames on Loki's kaleidoscopic green eyes, the raw passion they noticed just beneath the surface of his voice seemed so alien yet fitting for a storyteller that was the God of Stories. They also glimpsed an obsession and, dare they say it, madness in those ancient eyes.

“However, I also learned to enjoy the little detours along the way and to appreciate a story as it is being written,” said Loki as his voice become softer and the trio enjoyed the rest of the journey in a comfortable silence as the Royal Sister contemplated their grandfather’s words.

Eventually, they appeared on the void of outer space in the dimension of Midgard, all around them were stars and nebulas. Then Loki added, “Ah! I almost forgot, we better change to less conspicuous forms.”

“What do mean grandfather?” asked Celestia, but her only answer was Loki’s form shimmering for a moment as he changed into his male Æsir form.

“You two better do the same,” said Loki as he finished his change, then he saw the confused look on his granddaughters’ faces, so he explained, “In this dimension because of a group called Celestials sentient beings tend to, more often than not, be bipeds or off similar shape or configuration, very rarely they are quadrupeds. So I hope you two have been practicing your shapeshifting.”

The sisters look at each other, out of the two of them Luna was the one with the most experience when it came to shapeshifting, however, most of it had been done in the Dreamscape instead of the Physical Realm. In the real world, the most she had ever done was to turn herself into mist and that was more about changing the composition of the body then changing the shape of the body itself.

“By your expressions, am I right to assume that none of that's none of you have ever attempted it to shapeshift? At least to the same degree I just did,” asked Loki and by their nervous expression, they didn't need to answer his question. So he just offered, “I handle that, but remind me to teach you how to properly shapeshift, almost all of my children and grandchildren can do it, so there is no excuse for you not being able to do it especially because you are my granddaughters.”

Loki reached out with both hands and with the tip of the index finger of each hand touching the tip of the horn of each sister. From there he let a bit of his seidr travel into their bodies before “grabbing” their inmate magic and guiding it with his own to reshape their physical bodies.

The sisters felt like their flesh was been molded like wet clay by their own magic that was being guided by their grandfather. As their image shimmered their pelves changed shape and their spines changed position to compensate for that by assuming a vertical position instead of a horizontal one while their arms became a little shorter and their legs a little longer but not by much.

This process lasted less than a second and once it was over the sisters look at their new forms. They kept their fur coat, however, they were standing on their hind legs with an upright posture and their hooves remained mostly unchanged. Their forelegs, on the other hand, became thinner and their hooves changed appendage we five small extensions, which they recognize as hands and fingers respectively.

Predictably, they stumbled since they're not used to standing on two legs, the weight of their newly acquired breasts while somewhat balanced by their wings on their backs did not help either. The result, they tripped and fell, it was hilarious and Loki just looked at his granddaughters with amusement.

Loki was laughing quietly as he watched his granddaughters fumble for a while before finally reacquiring the necessary control of their limbs to at least stand without falling. At that point the God of Stories snapped his fingers in a shimmering light covered their bodies and disappeared, thus revealing a white and golden dress on Celestia and a dark blue and silver dress on Luna.

(Just imagine silver lines on the edges of Luna's dress and both of them are without shoes)

“There,” said Loki, then he looked closer and notice that they were taller than him, Celestia was around 9ft tall while Luna was around 8ft tall. He couldn't help but comment, "Oh, it seems that your Jotnar heritage is showing."

“Why not change us into a form similar to yours?” asked Luna as she flexed her arms, getting used to its motions and range.

“Since you seemed to have little experience in shapeshifting, I decided to just modify your bodies instead of changing your species entirely. Besides, both of you could pass as Kymellians with either mixed heritage or enhancements/modifications,” said Loki as he made a motion with his hands and the construct they were in started to move.

“So, where exactly are we going?” asked Celestia.

“We are going to one of the best retreats of the universe —not of divine nature— to help you two heal and relax, we are going to a world called Nulla in the Centron Star System,” said Loki, then he added as his granddaughters were admiring the passing stars, “Think of it as one of the best spa/resort in the universe.”

The sisters nodded and decided to pass the time by practicing their walk. While they were practicing Celestia asked, “Grandfather, you mentioned beings called ‘Celestials’, what are those?”

“Coincidence in the name aside, they are known as Star Giants, Titans from Space or Experimenters among other titles and they represent the lowest rank in the Cosmic Hierarchy. Essentially they are among the gardeners of the universe seeding worlds with life and helping them grow and evolve,” explained Loki.

“It sounds like a wonderful job,” commented Luna.

“Not really, they are impartial when it comes to their creations, however, if the life that they cultivated doesn't meet their standards... well, you know what happens to a weed in a garden, don't you?” asked Loki.

“You mean they…” started Celestia but she couldn't bring herself to finish that phrase.

“Indeed, a whole world and sometimes entire civilizations stretching across multiple worlds and Star Systems,” said Loki with a serious tone.

Wanting to avoid the subject the sisters stop asking questions and went back to their practice. At this point, they have accepted the fact that there were beings so far removed from the logic of mortals that it was pointless to question their actions, however, that didn't diminish the fear of knowing that something this powerful and uncaring was capable of existing.

Less than an hour later they could walk without tripping on their own hooves and they ended their little practice just as the construct stopped. Before the trio was a blue and green planet with hints of purple bathed in a light orange light that reminded the sisters of the sunset.

As they descended on the planet they saw the vast forests and upon closer inspection, they noticed that the immense trees —easily the largest that they ever seen— acted like building and that it had people in them in addition to the huts around certain trees. Eventually, they landed on a meadow surrounded by the shadows of the immense trees of Nulla and it didn't take long for a group of Nullans to approach, some of them were wearing suits while other were wearing robes of different colors.

Nullans were short ogre-like or simian-like humanoid with blue skin, black hair, red eyes and small tails. They also had long arms for their height that ended in a hand with three long fingers and a thumb, their bodies and legs that ended in circular feet, however, were thick despite being short, giving them a stocky build. It was possible to tell reference between male and female by the presence of breasts and wider hips on the females and the wider shoulders on the males.

“Greetings weary travelers, how may this one help,” said the Nullan with green skin and white hair, both being signs of advanced age in Nullans, purple robes as he placed his hands together and lowered his head to greet the visitors.

“Greetings elder, I come here with my granddaughters seeking your wisdom and healing,” said Loki as he mimicked the Nullan elders greeting while his granddaughters were taking in the sights and smells of the first —to them— alien world they ever visited.

“What afflicts your body and spirit esteemed Elder of the Universe?” asked the elder Nullan as he felt Loki's primordial power through their innate connection with the planet.

“For me, too much to list. For my grandchildren here, much weights on their minds and spirits and they spent many years caring about those they were supposed to guide instead of themselves,” said Loki and the elder nodded before motioning for the trio to follow.

The Nullans didn't even question the discrepancy in species of the visitors, they had been receiving visitor for a long time and it was not their place or in their nature to question those who needed help. It was their way of life to live and learn from the cosmos before returning to the soil of their Great Mother and it was their sworn duty to spread the patience, love, compassion and acceptance that their Great Mother taught them since times immemorial, even if one visitor at the time.

“Grandfather, who are these people?” asked Luna as she and Celestia accompanied Loki and the Nullans back to their village.

Thus Loki told them the story of the Planet Nulla in a manner befitting of his title of God of Stories about a world that for eons had been the safe haven for the ill and needy, a world that have never known war and unrest, a world so rich with a diversity of exotic fauna and flora so beautiful and so bizarre, more often than not both, that had become renowned throughout the Universe for their medicine and healing.

Truly a place so majestic and serene that was unlike any other, a place where the sentient and sometimes non-sentient species throughout the cosmos would flock to benefit from its fruits, both literal and metaphorical. A place where the Nullans themselves lived like monks, kind and giving, healers by nature that lived to help others in a place where neither technology nor industry would harm or mar the landscape or skies.

Villages throughout the land that for tens of thousands of years have housed its inhabitants that learned the art of healing, where the elders would pass knowledge to the young and the young would nurse the weak and tired into the next life. The personification of harmony in the universe as was known by many and far away from the “main players” in the grand game of conquest, besides, to conquer this world and harm its inhabitants may cause the loss of knowledge and resources, which defeated the purpose of conquering it in the first place.

**A few hours later**

Celestia was currently taking a cup of herbal tea after a relaxing day with Loki —now in female alicorn anthro form around the same height as Celestia— and Luna, her grandmother had decided to assume a similar form to share some of the activities with her and Luna. Having their wings preened, their nails and hooves carefully done and a massage after a bath in the nearby hot spring let the sisters relax and be pampered more they ever did in a thousand years, the best natural retreat of the universe indeed.

The trio was resting in a hut that was given to them for their stay on Nulla, another reason that Loki changed her form, while Loki herself didn’t have a problem it was kinda awkward for Celestia and Luna to have their grandfather in the same hut as them, their grandmother not so much. Unlike more long-lived and advanced species, where the form was irrelevant on the view of the individual, the physical form still had a big impact on how they viewed and treated Loki, not that she needed an excuse shapeshift anyway.

“That was a wonderful day, grandmother,” said Celestia.

“Indeed, but I think its better we go back,” said Luna, however, both she and Celestia noticed throughout the day the lack of connection to the sun and moon, not that unexpected considering that they were on another dimension, but that had the unfortunate effect of leaving the Royal Sisters without a mean of telling time besides their biological clock. It was with that in mind that Luna asked, “How long until its time to raise the moon in Statera?”

“It was an hour ago,” said Loki simply.

*cough**cough*“What?!” shouted Luna after choking on her tea.

“B-but you said you we would be back before it was time to lower the sun and raise moon!” exclaimed Celestia with worry in her voice.

“I knew a day would be enough, we have to go back immediately!” exclaimed Luna in an equally worried tone.

“Don’t worry, we will be and who said that our little vacations would be just a day long,” said Loki coyly after taking another sip of her tea. To this day it still fascinated her how the Nullans could know what herbs and treatments anyone needed just by observing a person regardless of species.

Luna and Celestia paused at their grandmother words, she might be the Goddess of Lies but she despised using untruth bluntly and needlessly, however, she was not above using words in a way that led others to think she meant something when in reality she meant something else entirely. So the sisters thought back on everything that was said and it didn’t take long for them to think of a way for them to have their break for as long as they needed or wanted and come back just before it was time for the sun to be lowered and the moon to be raised.

Loki’s smile just widened as the sisters facepalmed after the realization.

**Earth at the same time**

The Avengers and the X-men were victorious, but a heavy price was paid. Wanda Maximoff in her emotional instability after the loss of her brother in the fight against the Artificial Intelligence known as Ultron started to affect reality itself. That, unfortunately, resulted in the host of the Phoenix losing herself after a failed attempt at being manipulated, unfortunately, that resulted in Jean's death.

That however only became worse when the Mad Titan himself attacked the blue and green planet after he detected the unmistakable signature of the Phoenix Force on this “backwater mudball” of a planet and he didn’t hesitate to sent his fanatical and/or fearful followers to ritualistic “offer this world” to his beloved Mistress.

The combined efforts of all super-powered individuals on Earth managed to push back Thanos’ Black Order and save the lives of those that lived on the planet. But that resulted in the miscarriage of Wanda and Vison’s children, children that they shouldn’t have in the first place. Through the sea of possibility, she loved and lost a family she should never have, thus against her once friends and family that betrayed her she raged and took away their future after trying to give them a world that they dreamed of.

“No more mutants,” said Wanda a.k.a. Scarlet Witch and with those simple words the future of the species she thought to belong to was gone.

This day would later be known as M-Day, a day were 91.4% of the mutant population lost their powers, however, many of them saw this as a blessing. No longer would they have to hide from the normal humans and they finally could live in peace.

Such a nativity, humanity was ignorant of the origin of the Gene-X and even with Scarlet Witch powers being of an Omega Level Reality Warper, she was still a simple human, thus incapable of erasing the creation of the Celestials that easily. It would take time but mutants would return with or without the help of their agent on the planet, however, all these events only served to draw more attention to Earth from the major powers in the universe and now it was considered a real threat by them.

In the end, a seal that was placed long ago was broken and the gates of an ancient and forgotten realm started to open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I combined the outcome of Dark Phoenix, Ultron Unlimited, House of M and Age of Ultron(Comic and Movie) along with "Thanos first invasion of Earth"(Comic), however, I added the Black Order in it. All this to make this continuity closes to the comics.
> 
> Take a guess, what the last line was referring to.


	29. Two-sided

**A week later just morning, Nulla**

Celestia and Luna were sitting on the ground just watching the clouds move with the wind, they were in a clearing as they ate some fruits that were in a bowl of wood between them. As they sat there relaxing shockwaves could be heard by them but that honestly didn’t disturb them since at this point they were pretty used them, Luna looked at the origin of the shockwaves at the center of the clearing and saw Loki in his male Æsir form shirtless and only wearing black pants.

As Luna looked the wind blew her azure hair and out of reflex, she used her hand to move it behind her ear, which exposed her human-like face. Her new appearance was the result of her and Celestia using their magic to shapeshift into a human-like —or Æsir form as Loki put it— after a few lessons with their grandfather/grandmother.

Luna and Celestia became like any other human and Asgardian appearance-wise, their coat of fur disappeared and let their new pale skin exposed, their muzzles retreated into their heads leaving a relatively flat face with the exception of their noses, on Earth one could say that looked of Nordic descent if it wasn’t for their colorful hair, the only major difference between them was that Celestia was 6ft 2in and with natural pink hair while Luna was 5ft 8in with azure hair.

The younger sister looked at Loki as his fists met the fists of his sparring partner and each time they met the result would be another shockwave. The figure was definitely male if the broad shoulders and muscular chest and abs that seemed to barely be contained by his skin was any indication, he had dark purple almost black very short hair, which exposed his elvish ears, and purple skin that reminded Luna of Twilight Sparkle’s fur coat. He was wearing a robe similar to the Nullans around his waist, which left his upper torso exposed and while the skin color reminded Loki of a certain Titan he ignored it while he sparred.

Loki might prefer magic but he was still raised in a warrior culture and he liked to exercise his body as well as his mind, in this case fighting bare-handed with one of the few species that had the physical prowess to rival an Asgardian. The God of Stories and the Strontian kept exchanging punches and kick as sweat was running down their bodies, each block or attack sounding like a small explosion and that had the effect of startling most of the local fauna. These sparring sessions were something that the Nullans didn’t approve of since they were against any form of unnecessary violence but they were also against denying the wishes of others so they let the two of them have their daily sparring sessions.

“C’mon, I thought you were made of sterner stuff,” taunted the Strontian as he stood with his fists ready and Loki just responded with a knowing smile as his eye started to glow green, so the Strontian just smiled back as his eyes glowed reddish orange.

*whistle*

“Ok boy, if things were to escalate any further you would start to cause collateral damage,” said Celestia as she stood from where she was laying after whistling to get the attention of the two males.

“Thanks for the exercise Druval,” said Loki as he conjured a towel to dry his sweat.

“It was no problem Traveler,” said Druval as he bowed respectfully to Loki before putting his robe back, then he said, “If you excuse me I need to resume my duties.”

Loki nodded before approaching Celestia and sitting near her and Luna, then he picked a fruit and took a bite.

“Today is our last day here,” said Loki after swallowing.

“Yeah,” said Celestia as she laid back on the ground to look at the sky, even her casual voice sounded more relaxed than before she came to Nulla.

Luna and Celestia were like completely different people, current form notwithstanding, and it was like an immeasurable weight was lifted from their shoulders. The weight of the millennia was still there but it no longer dragged them down, here on Nulla they had a lot of time to reflect on what happened and that reflection combined with the treatment from the Nullans led the sister to accept what happened to them and to better themselves from it.

“A shame,” said Luna as she sat up, then she looked at Loki and asked, “So, where to next?”

**Earth, Avenger Mansion a six days ago**

“WHAT!?” shouted the, literally, thunderous voice of Thor as dark clouds gathered in the sky and flash of literal thunder accompanied his voice. He returned to Midgard this morning and greeted his friend amicably but his tone change when he heard about the recent events.

“Calm down big guy...” started Steven still in his uniform but his words were ignored by the angry god.

“Do you even know the dangers you could have unleashed?!!” screamed Thor with the storm and thunder accompanying his voice, both literally and figuratively.

“Of course we do bub, we saw the Phoenix destroy a solar system,” said Logan better known as Wolverine for the X-men and Avengers alike, the whole superhero community really. The mutant was in yellow and blue sleeveless uniform with gloves and boots, and he looked ready to pop out his claws thanks to his training and animalistic instincts warning of the danger but his experience allowed him to ignore it, for now.

“No you don’t, you saw a small fragment of that cosmic force used by a young blood-gifted mortal that was not prepared for such power and that is not even close to what a fully realized avatar of the Aldrnari Eldr can do,” said Thor in a calmer but still angry manner to the mutants present, the ones that were also part of the Avengers.

“And what’s the scale of such danger, big guy?” said a voice with a hint of southern accent coming from a white and brown-haired young woman in green and white uniform with hood plus black pants that covered her body completely with the exception been her head, this was Anna Marie better known as Rouge. She was once a villain that worked for Mystic but had a change of heart once she discovered her adopted mother’s deception and the almost permanent psychic impression that Miss Marvel left on her, plus a copy of the Kree empowered heroine’s powers, only helped her make the choice to join the Avengers and later the X-men.

“Universal scale,” said another voice in the living room of the mansion. The owner of the voice was a familiar sorcerer clad in blue with a red and golden cape, the Sorcerer Supreme of this dimension Doctor Stephen Strange. He came to the mansion after assisting the Avengers in a mission that involved some magical artifact and he was just about to leave when Thor arrived and this argument started, he figured it wasn’t his problem but that changed when they mentioned the Phoenix. Then he added to his previous statement, “And that's being naively optimistic, so Multiversal scale.”

“And how you know that Doctor?” asked a well-cultured and calm voice that belonged to a woman of African descent that seemed to have something outwardly about her, and that was not even considering her stunning sky blue eyes and a white-haired mohawk. She was wearing a mostly black uniform with a white front with some yellow details that also had two long “tails” that were connected to her golden bracelets, she was Ororo Munroe better know as Storm and to a certain Wakandan, hopefully, his future queen.

“He is the Sorcerer Supreme, weather-witch, he probably has some obscure text about dead realities that were burned by O Phoînix Dýnami,” said an individual as tall and as muscular as Thor that was standing beside the Norse God of Thunder. He had brown hair framed by his golden metal headband that also framed his face, he was wearing a belt of leather with the image of a lion, a light brown skirt and leather sandals that covered his legs, lastly, he was topless exposing his somewhat chest, he was Herakles or Hercules, he preferred the latter. Then he added, “Plus, all pantheons know of the power of The Cleansing Fire of Life.”

“My brother speaks the truth, mortals,” said a deep voice in a somewhat condescending tone coming from another big and muscular individual that had a similar physique to the two previously mentioned gods. He was wearing a black chest armor with a skull on it, leather straps wrapped around his left arm, a bracelet on his right arm as well as an armband on his right bicep, also a pteruges —skirt made of leather straps used on Greek and Roman uniforms— over black pants with greave and armored boots, he was Ares the Greek God of War a fellow Avenger plus Hercule’s blood brother.

“Regardless of that fact it has already been done, it's illogical to debate further,” said Vision in somewhat a plain voice he was known for despite the fact that it was possible to notice the melancholy behind the coldness he was trying to portray. The “grandson” of Dr Hank Pym, formerly known as Ant-man, was a red and green synthezoid with some golden details and a golden gem on his forehead.

“Agreed,” said a regal voice with confidence, he was an individual clad in black with a mask in the shape of a stylized panther and a necklace of teeth, he was T’Challa King of Wakanda. The only reason he was wearing his suit of vibranium was in case a conflict were to arise with the hotheaded Thunderer, more out of precaution than anything. However, even he felt the urgency of this matter when his connection to Bast flared and the Egyptian/Wakandan god(dess) was not pleased to know that someone tried to tap into the power of the Bnw Quwwa.

*Groan*“That’s why I said you don't understand,” said Thor as he pinched the bridge of his nose imagining that was Loki felt every time he and/or the Warriors Three “did something stupid” and dealing with ignorant mortals was giving the Thunderer a newfound appreciation for his brother, however, he conceded to the fact that he learned much from them in his time here o Midgard. He looked at the mortals that he was having an argument with and asked, “Do you think a Cosmic Force that represents life will let its avatar die or even stay dead for the matter?”

That question left most of the mutants stunned, so much so that they almost didn’t react when Thor turned to leave the room, however, most of the Avengers just let this conflict play out and would only interfere if needed since most mutants, and the mutant community in general, prefered to handle their own problems but mutant or not they were all Avengers.

"If you need my help ask the sorcerer to contact me if you can’t reach my communicator,” said Thor as he left and went upstairs.

“Wait right there pal, are you saying that Jean will come back?!” shouted Logan and he was about to reach Thor when Hercules grabbed his arm. When Wolverine looked at the Greek God of Strength he saw the Olympian just shake his head and a tense silence followed this standoff, only broken by the unmistakable roar of the Bifrost coming from the roof. Then Logan asked, “Is it true?”

“Yes,” said Ares and Hercules with a serious tone.

“But only if she wants to come back,” added Dr Strange before creating a portal and leave as well.

“I don’t know if Scott will be happy but at least he has the right to know,” said Rogue before she too left the room and once she was on the front yard she flew off.

Wolverine pulled his mask off before heading to the kitchen to get a strong drink and he felt he was in desperate need of one. Storm headed upstairs to her room in the mansion while the two Greek Gods went to the training room in the basement to work off some stress in a sparring match before heading to Olympus to speak with Sky-Father Zeus, nothing like a good match of pankration to get the blood flowing, besides it wasn't a urgent development, for now.

“It could have been worse,” said Tony Stark as the nanotech armor he was wearing receded into the reactor in his chest while drinking a smoothie he got from somewhere.

Captain America just placed his hand on his face and resisted the urge to groan, all he wanted to do was have a nice and relaxing day after returning this morning, maybe play some ping-pong, now all he wanted was take a nap. T’Challa just sighed before activating his teleporter built into his suit so he could go to Wakanda, there was much he needed to think and he needed the wisdom of his ancestors and deity on this matter.

**Somewhere in space, present time**

Loki and his granddaughters were in the same sphere that transported them before and Druval was flying beside them to act as an escort until they reached a certain point. Then they stopped and Druval entered the sphere before bowing to the three.

“Here is where we depart,” said Druval as he stood straight.

“Thank you for everything,” said Celestia as she and Luna bowed as well.

“You should visit more often, it’s not often that I get a good sparring partner, even among my team,” said Druval and Loki nodded.

Druval turned to leave when suddenly a pair of flashlights fell upon the group and they were seemingly coming from nowhere, then a long yellow and blue ship made itself known by decloaking. Then the sphere was pulled by some invisible force that Druval and Loki identified as a tractor beam until it was almost touching the hull just as two square sections slid apart showing an opening with a blue see-through barrier.

The sphere was placed on the floor as it was surrounded by soldiers of different shapes and sizes, but by their uniform, it was possible to tell that they were a military force of some kind. Their uniform was mostly dark blue or dark red and it had a sun-like silhouette either on the chest or belly, most soldiers were using gold and blue guns but some of them had a golden helmet and they had their glowing hands pointed at the four of them, the red star logo let them identify the group without problem, it was the Nova Corp.

“Well well well, what we have here?” said a female voice as she approached the sphere. Then she added in a serious tone, “You are very far from home Strontian, what are you doing here?”

That particular Nova was a woman with brown skin, which was possible to tell because her lower face was exposed, and her uniform was dark red with three suns connected by a V on the front of the chest plate that was almost unnoticeable because how well it blended with the suit below, she had the golden boots and gloves that matched her uniform, lastly, on her head was a golden helmet with a red star in its center but the most baffling of her features was her round and bulging belly. Her name was Eve Bakian one of the most decorated and accomplished field commanders in the whole Nova Corp and she didn’t let the fact that she was pregnant stop or slow her down.

“Easy there Eve, no need to escalate things if we don’t need to,” said a masculine voice behind Eve and when he came forward to stand beside the commander it was revealed to be a male with a similar uniform but black instead of red or blue and with a black helmet instead of a gold one, he was Jesse Alexander one of the first Supernovas or Black Ops Nova.

“But she has a point though,” said Jesse as he pointed his right arm at the Loki and his group. Then he added when his right hand started to glow with the pale blue and golden light of the Nova Force was gathered around his hands, “It’s not every day we see an Asgardian and a Strontian together, so I hope you wouldn't mind answering some questions?”

**Unknown place in Yggdrasil, unknown time**

Three hooded figures were sitting in a boat of wood and by the clopping sound that was coming from them it was possible to that two of them had hooves instead of feet as they tapped said hooves on the boat. The two stopped when the one in the front looked into the distance at something that the other two could see.

“Something wrong?” asked one of the two hooded figures in the back and by the voice it was clearly female.

“No,” said the figure in the front of the trio and by its voice it was male.

The trio remained quiet as they navigated the branches of the Tree of Worlds until they reached a fortress/village that was seemingly made of the very wood that made the ground they could reach beneath the “swamp” and the “forest" around them when in reality those were infinitely small branches from Yggdrasil. All that was complemented by rivers and lakes of a thick and unknown ember colored substance, the sap of the Tree of Worlds itself, that they were navigating through.

This was an interesting dimension that shifted its appearance because of the power its inhabitants as they interacted with many pantheons, this village was inhabited by the Weavers of Fate and the inhabitants knew this place as Nornheim home of the Nornir. As the boat entered the “fortress” they were faced with the interior of the hollow “tree” where many houses were located. The place was illuminated by a great bonfire in the center of the lake of sap kept ablaze with magical ember crystals.

This place held special significance to the gods of every pantheon since here was where countless being that dealt with Fate as well as time Time resided or met from time to time and those were forces that not even the gods could fight against, they might struggle and cause small changes but never win against it. However, that was not to say that it was a hopeless endeavor, and as many gods like Loki have found out, it wasn’t about fighting against it but freeing yourself.

The trio left the boat and climbed the stair into the biggest hut, once inside the two youngest were surprised by the tapestries and clothing that decorated the interior. Not far from them three hooded figures weaved their delicate hands through the air leaving behind colorful threads that they weaved into the many tapestries either with their own hands or with some kind of tool. Their robes seemed to constantly shift color with the only constant being the figure of an eye over their faces that were covered by the long hood and their hands seemed to grow old and wrinkly before becoming young and beautiful, they were the most diligent in their duties and seemed to be in many places at once.

This particular trio was composed by the most dedicated of the Weavers, they had many names but the most well known were Moirai or Moerae, Parcae or Fata, The Sister of Fate or simply Fates, Matres or Matronae, the three Morrigna or Morrigan among others but to the inhabitants of the Nine Realms, they were known simply as Nornir. However, the attention of the visitors was focused on the woman sitting on a throne decorated with branches, green leaves, gold and precious gem along with marble.

The woman on the throne had curled black hair and gray eyes along with a fair skin, she wore a purple and blue finely made dress and a very extravagant headdress, the necklace extended over her shoulders and connected with her bride gloves as well as extending over her front between her breasts and connecting with her belt, all of that decorated with jewels and engravings and threats that hanged around her and held a golden gem in the end, she was one of the most powerful of all Nornir, and self-entitled Queen of Nornheim, Karnillia.

“What do you want?” asked Karnilla in a bored and indifferent tone as she looked at the three visitors.

“I just came here to fulfill an oath I made long ago with my sworn-brother,” said the only male of the trio of visitors.

“And why should I care?” said Karnilla knowing who she was talking to despite the stranger concealing his face.

“That will give you an opportunity to be with your beloved,” said the visitor.

“Tread carefully,” said Karnillia as her eyes started to glow green and numerous threads of magic started to appear and wave around her. Then she added, “We might have been allies in the past but that does not mean I trust your words, Silvertongue.”

The figure just removed his hood showing a familiar black hair and green eyes.

“How about getting some payback from Those-Who-Sit-Above-In-Shadows,” said Loki.

“I’m listening,” said Karnilla and Loki smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words in other languages:
> 
> Aldrnari Eldr - Fire of Dawn in Norse since the phoenix force is responsible for the emergence of sentient life.
> 
> O Phoînix Dýnami - it's a translation for Phoenix Force in Greek.
> 
> Bnw Quwwa - it's a translation for Phoenix Force in Egyptian.
> 
> Norn (plural Nornir) - three figures from Norse mythology that weave the fates of gods and mortals alike.  
>  
> 
> Druval is an OC and he is from the same species as Gladiator and his name comes from Dru-Zod and Val-Zod from DC comic, the way I named him is similar to how Gladiator's name was chosen. Also, the images I used for Nornheim are from concept art for the Thor movies. Speaking of movies, I watched Infinity War and it was awesome.
> 
> The inspiration for the Royal Sister's human form:  
> http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/378/967/a77.jpg


	30. Void

[b]Asgard, six days ago, dining halls[/b]

“Another!!” screamed Thor as he drank another horn of mead, at the moment he was upset with his mortal friends and he wanted to just enjoy a good mead with them after returning from a mission to track some eldthursar with Bill but that was crushed by when he heard about the Phoenix Force and he was unaware that it had chosen an avatar.

“Here my prince,” said a female servant before handing another horn to Thor.

“Just like the old days,” said Fandral as he lifted his horn before drinking from it and later trying to charm the servants that were serving him, they all smiled but he was having mixed results.

“Indeed,” said Volstagg before biting off a piece of meat he was holding and in no time it was only a piece of bone, then he said innocently, “We are missing Loki, then it would be exactly like the old days.”

That caused Thor to stop and contemplate for a bit while Sif just slapped Volstagg on the back of the head, Fandral also stopped flirting and the only one that didn't react was Hogun who just sighed at Volstagg’s action but Thor’s thoughts were bound to turn to Loki.

“Aye,” said Thor as he finished drinking the horn he was holding and after he asked after getting up, “How about we visit him in his granddaughter’s realm?”

“I wonder what kind of food they have?” asked Volstagg after he ate yet another piece of meat.

“You had to mention that that snake, didn’t you?” asked Sif after Thor left the room and Volstagg just shrugged while he was stuffing his bag with what he could from the feast, which caused Sif to just sigh.

“C’mon Sif it would have happened sooner or later,” said Fandral as he left the room as well with Hogun following Thor, then Sif waited for Volstagg to fill his “lunch bag” and after he was done they headed out but after asking a nearby servant where Thor was he informed her that the Prince was at the King’s study room, which confused Sif as she thought that Thor would head directly to the Himinbjorg.

By the time Sif and Volstagg arrived at the door of Odin’s study room, they saw Fandral and Hogun were waiting outside of the door. By the faint voices inside Thor was speaking with Odin and Frigg about something, so she and Volstagg opted to wait as well and didn’t have to wait for long —good thing because Volstagg would start to eat his snack— before Thor came out accompanied by Frigg.

“So, Thor what did you discussed with the All-Father? if you don't mind us asking,” asked Fandral as the group headed for the stable.

“I don’t mind, my friend, I was asking if we could take Sleipnir with us since it his daughters’ realm we are heading to,” explain Thor.

“Are you sure it's a good idea to take the All-Father’s steed with us?” asked Hogun, always the paranoid one.

“I’m sure there is no problem besides it has been such a long time since Sleipnir spend time with his family that I’m starting to get concerned,” said Frigg as she accompanied the group to the stables.

After that, they chatted amicably, except for Sif since she did not like the perspective of meeting more of Loki’s spaws, and when they arrived at the stable they moved to the section that housed Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr but they noticed that Sleipnir was not there.

“Where is Sleipnir?” asked Frigg to the Stable Master.

“He is grazing in Folkvangr or Fensalir near Valhalla on Gladsheim with the some of the Valkyries’ steeds,” said the Stable Master and Frigg opened the doors of the stables and she saw Sleipnir grazing on the fields with some of the winged steeds of the Valkyrior.

Frigg just flared her seidr to get the steeds attention before she motioned for Sleipnir to come closer and he did so while the rest went back to do what they were doing. Frigg just placed her hands on either side of her grandson's head before touch her forehead on his.

“Hello Sleipnir,” said Frigg before pulling back and look into his blue eyes. It was around this time that Thor came out and Sleipnir tilted his head to the side expressing his confusion. Then Frigg answered his silent question, “Thor asked my husband if it was alright for you to visit your daughters and I think you should spend some time with them and your mother, it's been too long in my opinion.”

Sleipnir just neighed before shaking his head and Frigg just said, “I am asking you as your grandmother, please spend some time with your daughters.”

Sleipnir just sighed before approaching Thor as he brought out Tanngrisnir as well as Tanngnjostr and unfolded his chariot.

“Greetings nephew,” said Thor as he placed his hand on Sleipnir’s neck after securing his goats on the chariot and the eight-legged steed just bumped his head on the arm of the smiling God of Thunder.

“Shouldn't we place the bridle on him before going?” asked Sif as she came out with the Warriors Three.

“Nonsense Sif, Sleipnir will show you the way to Sattheim,” said Frigg as it was an obvious fact and Sif just nodded, out of all of Loki's children Sleipnir was the only one that the young Vanir didn't dislike/hated for some reason or another.

Sleipnir just nodded before walking to the gate of near the stables to allow the steeds to move from the field to the road, then Thor and the Warriors Three climbed on the chariot but to the surprise of everyone, Frigg also climbed onboard.

“Um… are you going to see us off at Himinbjorg, Your Majesty?” asked Fandral with a bit of uncertainty.

“No, I’m coming with you, after all, I wish to meet my great-granddaughters,” said Frigg as if nothing was wrong, then she added as she looked at Thor, “Besides, there is something I wish to tell Loki and this is a good excuse as any to leave Asgard for a while.”

“But are you sure its safe for you to leave Asgard, Your Majesty?” asked Lady Sif.

“While I admit I’m a bit rusty due to lack of training I’m a seidr user and I was once the queen of the Valkyries, are you doubting my skills to protect myself Sif?” asked Frigg with steel in her eyes and at that moment it wasn’t Beloved Queen Frigg that was looking back at her but Freya the Warrior Queen.

“Of course not my queen, it not my placed to question your decisions,” said Lady Sif, as an Asgardian of Vanir descend she knew how terrible Freya could be —she didn’t even know half of it.

Sleipnir just shook his head at his grandmother's action she could be quite vicious and petty sometimes. Ignoring the scene behind him he started galloping when the gate was open he could hear the chariot not far behind and the mischievous side of him was tempted to make a pit stop somewhere just to the surprised faces of his uncle and his friends but he decided against it since his grandmother was with them, he couldn’t wait for their reaction when they reach Sattheim though. He galloped through the rainbow bridge and Heimdall just opened the gate and let the group pass, Sleipnir’s hooves and eyes started to glow as he stepped on the invisible ground in the Sea of Space and soon he and the chariot that was following him was gone.

[b]Nova Corp Ship, somewhere near Xandarian Empire's borders, present time[/b]

Loki, his granddaughters and Druval found themselves in a waiting room after they were each escorted and questioned in a standard interrogation room, that however changed when learned who Loki was and they were released. Now they were just waiting for another officer to confirm their stories before they could move on and they didn't have to wait long cuz the officer that came was Field Commander Centurion Eve Bakian.

“We managed to confirm your story Druval of Strontia, you went MIA after the massacre of your people by the newly-crowned, at the time, Gladiator Kallark who happens to be the current Praetor of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. It wasn't easy to get that information especially because I had to use some of my connections in the Shi'ar Empire and I would like to avoid a diplomatic incident at any cost,” said Eve as she was holding a datapad showing the information she needed, then she looked up from the datapad and at the Strontian before her and said, “The question is ‘how did you end up here?’ and I would like very much to know the answer to that question.”

There was a pause as the Nova looked at the Strontian and he just sat there with a peaceful look on his face, then he said, “Well, after I survived the massacre I drifted into space and was ready to die but somehow someway I crash-landed on the planet Nulla where I was nursed back to health by its inhabitants and there I found peace. Then I decided to dedicate my life to protect that peace and I have lived there ever since.”

“Just to recap: you survive the massacre of your people find yourself on Nulla and then decided to live as a monk,” said Eve in a very objective tone and Druval just nodded, so Eve just said after sighing, “You know that I have to report this to my superiors and they will most likely inform the Shi’ar of your survival, right?”

“I know and the chances of the Shi’ar making a move is very unlikely, either way, I made peace with what happened,” said Druval and Eve just sighed before turning to look at Loki and his granddaughters, just in time for the door to open and Jesse came in with another pad before giving it to Eve.

Eve took the pad and started to read, not long after she took off her helmet and handed it to Jesse before she pinched the bridge of her nose and say to herself, “This one will a headache.”

“I told you to take a maternity leave,” said Jesse as he held Eve’s helmet.

“And I told you that’s none of your business,” said Eve before directing her attention to Loki and say, “Loki ‘Lorkhan’ Silvertongue, sometimes Odinson and sometimes Laufeyson, Prince of Asgard and Jotunheim plus a bunch of titles that I don’t feel like listing. You are a very hard individual to track and whatever I could find was conflicting or incomplete. So, what’s your story?”

“Just taking my granddaughters on a trip,” said Loki as he looked at his nails like there was nothing wrong.

“Yes, your supposed granddaughter, we could find anything about them but given their appearance and energy signature, we assume they are Asgardian as well. I’m actually surprised that you had kids in the first place,” said Eve as she looked at Celestia and Luna who were looking around at the devices on the ship.

“You would be surprised,” said Loki before looking at Eve and say, “You really shouldn’t stress yourself like this, it’s not good of the baby girl you are carrying, take it from someone with experience.”

“Really? I know that in some species the male carries the offspring but last I checked Asgardians are human-like and you are a guy, so I call it BS,” said Eve as she crossed her arms. Loki’s answer by changing his form into that of a woman while keeping that coy smile and Eve just pinched her nose again and say to herself, “Damn, it like dealing with the Skrulls all over again.”

“Actually…” started Jesse before he approached Eve and whispered something in her ear.

“Really?” said Eve in disbelief as she looked at Jesse and Loki before shrugging and ask, “And how do you know that?”

“I read about Norse Mythology,” said Jesse nervously.

“Ok, I take back what I said before but I’m still not taking a maternity leave and I need you to be more specific than ‘family vacations’,” said Eve as she looked at Loki.

“But there is nothing more to it, Commander Eve,” said Celestia.

“Indeed,” said Luna.

“I wonder what got the military of the Xandarian Empire so riddle up?” asked Loki as Eve just sighed and filed her report since she didn’t have any reason to keep them in her custody.

“If you must know it's not just the Xandarians, the Kree, Skrulls and Shi’ar are also mobilized their troops to patrol their borders since the Mad Titan attacked Earth,” said Eve as she and Jesse guided the four of them back to the hangar.

“I see,” was Loki’s only comment but he spoke with a serious tone that was unlike her, Eve and Jesse might not know Loki personally but it was understandable since all of them knew the magnitude of the threat that the Mad Titan represented, something that Celestia and Luna did not.

*ALARM*

Just as they were about to leave everyone heard the alarms blaring loudly.

“What hell is going on Corporal?!” shouted Eve as she grabbed a random passerby, then she continued, “Are we under attack?!’

“No ma’am, we just received a distress signal and requested backup from all nearby patrol ships as dictated by protocol,” said the Corporal.

“But there are only two kinds of distress calls that we request that kind of backup and since it's not an attack it can only be a planetary level disaster,” said Jesse and the corporal just nodded.

“What kind of disaster are we dealing with, planetary instability, asteroids or a cosmic storm?” asked Eve as she flew to the other side of the hangar to a terminal before starting to type on it.

“Worst ma’am,” said the Corporal as the hangar doors opened allowing them to see the planet and when all of them spotted the giant spaceship the dwarfed the planet piercing it with metal tentacles and the Corporal spoke the cause of the distress even though everyone but the Royal Sisters managed to identify the threat, “Galactus.”

“Worst ma’am,” said the Corporal as the hangar doors opened allowing them to see the planet and when all of them spotted the giant spaceship the dwarfed the planet piercing it with metal tentacles and the Corporal spoke the cause of the distress even though everyone but the Royal Sisters managed to identify the threat, “Galactus.”

[b]Statera/Sattheim, six days ago, throne room, afternoon[/b]

Loki’s clone was bored, he held court and heard all the petitioners before denying the stupid ones, unsurprisingly most were from greed nobles, all in all, a rather uneventful day and in a few hours, his original and his granddaughters would be back from their trip to lower the moon.

“I wonder what the Nornir had planned for today?” asked Loki and the guards stationed in the throne room looked at him in confusion but did say anything, their golden armor remaining Loki of the Einherjar that what over the hall of the Royal Palace in Asgard. While he sat on the throne his mind turned to his wife, his lovers and children wondering if he should bring them here, even if just for a visit, maybe he could plan a family reunion.

Loki’s introspection was interrupted when he felt something enter Statera and didn’t take long for him to recognize the seidr of his son but his eyebrow twitched when he felt the group of presences following him. So he got up and in silence walked through the open doors of the throne room. From there he went to the gardens where he knew Sleipnir would be arriving, two guards accompanied him since he had a serious expression on his face and they feared that something might be wrong. A distortion appeared above the garden and the guards readied their weapons, from that distortion jumped a familiar gray stallion with eight legs and just as his hooves touched the grass a chariot came from the same distortion.

“What brings you here, my son?” asked Loki and Sleipnir’s response was approach his mother and gently nuzzle him, this caused the guards to relax since it wasn’t another enemy like Discord but just the princesses’ father coming for another visit, however, it was somewhat awkward and it still weird for them to think about the princesses having parents and grandparents.

“What is the meaning of this?!” shouted a voice all too familiar to Loki and interrupting the reunion between mother and son, that voice belonging to a certain shieldmaiden he really disliked.

“What foul sorcery is this?!” shouted another voice —this one far louder— and its anger already affecting the magic in the air and causing dark clouds to form in the sky.

Loki looked away from his son to the chariot that landed not too far from where they were and as he predicted he saw the all too familiar golden chariot of his brother pulled by his favorite pet goats. He saw Sif, the Warriors Three and Thor look at their own hooves in disbelief —in Thor’s case anger since he had experience being transformed against his will— but that was not what surprised him.

Loki didn’t pay attention to his brother who turned into a light bluish gray alicorn with golden mane and blue eyes, nor to Sif or Hogun who became peach colored alicorns with black manes or Fandral who became a light lime alicorn with blonde mane and neither Volstagg who became a ferocious looking griffon with reddish brown and dark yellow fur, no, Loki’s attention was on the blue eyes of the pale golden alicorn with a mane that seemed to be weaved of silver and gold wearing a blue dress made of silk, a beautiful golden necklace with red gem that had runes in there interior made so expertly that it had no equal and a cloak of gray feathers that could be confused for a second set of wings if wasn't for the fact that they hung around her shoulders.

“Hello Loki,” said Frigg as she approached her son and hugged him with her wings, not even bothered by the transformation nor her new form despite being a form she usually would take.

“Mother,” said Loki as he looked at the woman, now a mare, that raised him and loved him as her own flesh and blood for many cycles, a experience that was vastly overshadowed by his other incarnations but one that he held dear, thus to the God of Stories Frigg was and will always be his beloved mother, this one far more than any of her incarnations over the cycles. That recollection was especially unpleasant when he gazed at Brisingamen and recalled the rather unsavory and sordid history of that particular necklace, that was one the few things that he was glad that the cycles erased from history even if he and few other still remembered it.

The guards almost had a heart attack when they saw five alicorns arrive in that golden chariot and they almost fainted when they heard Loki call that particular alicorn “mother”, however, they managed to remain professional since it wouldn’t be very good for their reputation and the first impression to the princesses’ great-grandmother —to them it felt very weird to think about that— while they tried to organize their thoughts.

As Loki was in the embrace of his mother he felt the feathers of her cloak brush against his fur and that let him recall a particular talk that Frigg had with Hera and Morrigan about their cloaks while Odin, Dagda and Zeus were in a meeting with the other Sky-Fathers. Any further recollection was stopped as he saw the four Asgardians slowly getting used to their new bodies, Thor got used rather quickly since he had some experience when it came to unwilling shapeshifting.

“Did you informed Thor of the field of seidr that surrounds this realm?” asked Loki as he saw the angry God of Thunder approach the pair, luckily Thor heard Loki and that allowed the Thunderer to conclude that the transformation wasn’t his brother’s doing, this time.

“I may have neglected to inform them,” said Frigg using a coy tone as she placed one of her wings in front of her face to hide her mischievous smile and that caused Loki to smile while Thor facepalmed… facehoofed at his mother mischievousness.

“Please come in, my granddaughters should be back in an hour or two,” said Loki as he motioned with his wing for the five alicorns and the very sizeable gryphon to enter the castle, then he turned to one of the guards and said, “I know its a bit earlier but tell the cooks to start making dinner, it would be rude to leave our guests waiting, plus my granddaughters should be returning soon.”

The guards just bowed and left, one to inform the kitchen of their unexpected and sudden guest and the other to guide said guests to the dining hall, at least Loki was not bored anymore and just before entering he turned to Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr before saying while he removed the bridles and harness that was connected to the chariot, “You two as well, you can accompany your master inside.”

Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr looked at each other and just shrugged before following Loki inside.

[b]Unknown Time, Nornheim[/b]

“Do you know the magnitude of what you are asking?” asked Karnilla as she heard Loki’s request.

“Of course I do, I wouldn't have asked otherwise,” said Loki with a serious tone as he looked into the eyes of the Norn Queen.

“Why would you go so far for a man that is responsible for so much of your suffering?” asked Karnillia.

“Because I made a promise and I always keep my promises, plus it not for him I’m doing this,” said Loki before turning to the two cloaked figures that accompanied him so far and said, “You two wait here until I’m done.”

“Ok grampa,” said one of the figures with a female voice.

“Eeeeh, we come all this way and we don’t get to see it,” said the second figure her voice clearly younger, or at the very least more childish than the first.

“Don’t worry sis, I’m sure that grampa has his reasons,” said the first figure and the second nodded begrudgingly.

Karnillia and one of the three Nornir that stopped her weaving motioned for Loki to follow through a doorway and he did so. The trio came out of the hut and onto a bridge of wood and ropes that was suspended over the river of sap, and they walked in silence. After an unknown amount of time they reached the other side, a clearing that was surrounded by large roots and in the middle of that clearing was a well.

Loki looked at the well with sparkling clear water that seemed so pure that merely looking seemed to almost be invisible if it wasn't for the reflection of the green light that came from the leaves above, the Urdarbrunnr, the Well of Urd. One of the the three sources of the original water that came from the melting of the ice of Niflheim by the fires of Muspelheim and named after the Norn that was known to recount the past of any creature that have ever existed until now as well as the very place where Odin hung himself by a rope and drove a spear through his own heart for nine days and nights, where he learned to truly understand and use the runes.

The God of Stories knew this story very well and it was here that many versions of him also tried to understand the runes like Odin did long ago, only one version of him ever succeeded in this endeavor and to think that he would be back to this place once again. But the well was not his goal, instead of the well his eyes were focused on the weave that was creating a grand and long tapestry that hung from the branches and roots of Yggdrasil that converged in this place. A tapestry that depicted events that almost no one remembered starting from the black edge with an ice blue and fiery red on each side, then slowly letting the blue and red bleed into the black until they met in the middle, the moment that ice and fire met for the first time in Ginnungagap.

Loki touched the tapestry and the moment he did so the world around him started to melt into a black void, a void so black that it would make no difference if you were blind or not and so still that it would make no difference if you were deaf or not, so absolute in its emptiness that neither life nor death seemed to matter, where you would be truly alone with nothing but your own thoughts and memories. Such emptiness can drive mortals and gods alike to madness and it was in this place that Loki found himself.

“So, you are the one that escaped,” said a voice that wasn’t a voice and seemed to be one yet made of countless voices at once.

Loki just closed his eyes and opened his mind for this was a place, for lack of a better word, where his eyes were useless, then he opened his mind to “see” the one(s) that spoke.

“Why have you come here godling?” asked the "voice(s)" as Loki saw the figures looming over himself, just silhouettes of beings clad in armor and darkness, Those-Who-Sit-Above-In-Shadow.

“I’m here to fulfill a promise I made to my long ago to my inconsiderate brother and my loving wife,” said Loki as he looked at the massive figures before him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, been busy with college and I happen to use my free time to catch up with anime and series that I planned to watch, that and video games. I especially liked the new God of War and their take on Norse Mythology, it actually gave me some ideas.
> 
> Inspirations for Thor and Frigg as ponies, here:  
> https://img00.deviantart.net/2b2e/i/2018/048/a/d/frigga_concept_by_ri20-dc3gwfo.png  
> https://img00.deviantart.net/3669/i/2017/348/0/9/gods_and_alicorns___thor__pony__by_edcom02-d8wbxoi.png
> 
> Anyway, in Frigg's case I added some items she is associated with in Norse Mythology, mainly her necklace and cloak made of falcon feather, those that know Norse Mythology will know the story of that particular necklace, Brisingamen, wore by Freya. The mention of Hera is because she is sometimes depicted with a cloak made of peacock feathers while Morrigan is depicted with a cloak of crow feathers and the meeting between Zeus, Dagda and Odin is a reference to the Council of Godheads, for those that are not familiar Morrigan and Dagda are from Celtic Mythology. As for my decision to turn Volstagg into a gryphon instead of an alicorn is because he is called the "Lion of Asgard", in my mind most Asgardians would become alicorns but not all of them. The Urdarbrunnr or Well of Urd is where the Nornir lives in Norse Mythology and all we know is that is where one of the three roots of Yggdrasil drinks the primordial waters, the other two being in Helheim and Jotunheim, and I merge that interpretation with the comics, the place where they live being Nornheim. For those that don't know that ship is called Taa II and is simultaneously where the Devourer of Worlds live and the vessel he uses to travel through the Universe, he does have smaller ships inside though.


End file.
